Some Reflections on Fertility in Slovenia

Abstract

In this essay, the author provides a brief historical overview of the fertility debate in Slovenia. Embedded in the nation-building processes since the inception of earliest Slovenian political programme in mid- 19th century, talk about fertility regained an ideologically privileged position following Slovenian independence in 1991. Somewhat paradoxically, though, the issue of demography as an academic endeavour never attracted proportional support from the potential political users. As a consequence, isolated researchers from various ‘academic tribes’ have dealt with the issue, and it was not until recently that more programmatic efforts have been made to establish inter-disciplinary projects on population issues. This special issue represents such an effort by presenting different theoretical views and approaches, either about the education-fertility link or wider contexts of reproductive behaviour in university educated individuals and couples in Slovenia.