Ambitious and free-thinking, East European youths are spurning the age-old institution of marriage to the point where the formerly communist region now has one of the lowest marriage rates in the world.
"You can't rely on relationships to make you happy," said Judit, a 24-year-old, curly haired lawyer working at a multinational firm in Budapest. "You have to be happy with yourself, that's the most important thing."
More and more young people share Judit's views in Hungary and the region, where the transition to democracy and a market economy has brought about a noticeable shift in the way younger generations view life and relationships.
During communist times in Hungary, most young people still married to conform with social norms, even though divorce rates were high.
But in a new world that places more emphasis on individualism, social norms seem to be the last thing on young people's minds. A focus on working hard to get ahead and a preoccupation with having fun during free time can be deadly to traditional relationships, sociologists say.
"Old and new values are colliding after the transition," said Zsolt Speder, director of the Population Research Institute at the Central Statistics Office (KSH) in Budapest. "The new capitalist system has brought about a largely self-centered society where the compromise needed in any marriage is shunned."
According to KSH, the number of new marriages in Hungary last year was less than those in 1970, and the country now has at 4.3 marriages per 1,000 residents one of the lowest marriage rates in Europe, lower than in the Scandinavian countries, which are know for their permissiveness.
The pattern is the same in many of the East European nations, eight of which -- the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia -- are due to join the EU next year.
Lithuania and Latvia have had spectacular declines in marriage rates since the fall of communism 14 years ago, from over 10 marriages per 1,000 people in 1989 to 4.5 and 3.9 respectively last year.
In Slovenia, marriage rates dropped by 20 percent over the decade of the 1990s.
In strongly Catholic Poland and traditionally minded Romania, however, marriage rates are higher, over five per 1,000 residents.
Magdalena Picsova, of the Slovakian Academy of Sciences, said that under centrally planned communist economies many were motivated to marry so that authorities would give them easier access to a new apartment.
But now some couples shy away from marriage since apartments are too expensive.
Many couples do live together, of course, but still choose not to get married.
Sociologist Agnes Utasi of the University of Szeged in southern Hungary said that cohabitation rather than marriage was becoming the norm in Hungary, a mostly Catholic country where the Church's influence nonetheless is limited.
"Society has grown much more accepting of this," Utasi said of couples living together without getting married. "It seems to better suit the faster pace of life where everything, including relationships, is uncertain."
Some couples decline to tie the knot, even when they have children.
In Bulgaria, the number of children born out of wedlock has quadrupled since the fall of communism, "from 10-12 percent before 1990 to 44 percent" last year, Yordan Kaltchev, a demography expert at the Bulgarian Statistics Institute, said.
The trend has also shown up in Hungary.
Bori has lived with her boyfriend for seven years and now they have a two-year old child, said the 27-year-old media researcher in Budapest, who did not want to give her last name.
"There are a lot of negative stereotypes about marriages, that most of them end in divorce," she said.
"Instead of legally chaining myself to somebody, as a modern woman I want to prove that with a career and a family, I can be happy in a relationship."
FRAUD ALLEGED: The leader of an opposition alliance made allegations of electoral irregularities and called for a protest in Tirana as European leaders are to meet Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama’s Socialist Party scored a large victory in parliamentary elections, securing him his fourth term, official results showed late on Tuesday. The Socialist Party won 52.1 percent of the vote on Sunday compared with 34.2 percent for an alliance of opposition parties led by his main rival Sali Berisha, according to results released by the Albanian Central Election Commission. Diaspora votes have yet to be counted, but according to initial results, Rama was also leading there. According to projections, the Socialist Party could have more lawmakers than in 2021 elections. At the time, it won 74 seats in the
A Croatian town has come up with a novel solution to solve the issue of working parents when there are no public childcare spaces available: pay grandparents to do it. Samobor, near the capital, Zagreb, has become the first in the country to run a “Grandmother-Grandfather Service,” which pays 360 euros (US$400) a month per child. The scheme allows grandparents to top up their pension, but the authorities also hope it will boost family ties and tackle social isolation as the population ages. “The benefits are multiple,” Samobor Mayor Petra Skrobot told reporters. “Pensions are rather low and for parents it is sometimes
CANCER: Jose Mujica earned the moniker ‘world’s poorest president’ for giving away much of his salary and living a simple life on his farm, with his wife and dog Tributes poured in on Tuesday from across Latin America following the death of former Uruguayan president Jose “Pepe” Mujica, an ex-guerrilla fighter revered by the left for his humility and progressive politics. He was 89. Mujica, who spent a dozen years behind bars for revolutionary activity, lost his battle against cancer after announcing in January that the disease had spread and he would stop treatment. “With deep sorrow, we announce the passing of our comrade Pepe Mujica. President, activist, guide and leader. We will miss you greatly, old friend,” Uruguayan President Yamandu Orsi wrote on X. “Pepe, eternal,” a cyclist shouted out minutes later,
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
RSS