At the end of May, the conference of the Czech Demographic Society took place at the Olomouc City Hall. This event is a regular meeting of demographers from Czechia and Slovakia. Some of the key topics were current demographic trends, changes that the contemporary Czech family is undergoing, and working with data and databases. In the poster session, mainly Ph.D. students presented their research.
A special panel on historical demography was reserved for members of our team. In the first paper, Alice Velková introduced the project and then spoke about the marriage age of Czech and Transylvanian MPs with regard to their socio-professional background and nationality. The social profile of the members of the Bohemian Diet and the changes brought about by the development between 1861 and 1908 were discussed by Martin Klečacký. Hana Sedláčková and Věra Slováková compared senior civil servants and their brothers in a joint presentation in which our new colleague Pavlína Hillerová also participated. They looked at how birth order might have affected the career prospects of these men, at what age they married and how many children they had. The ensuing discussion focused on the similarities between research on past and present populations. The poster session featured a paper by Georgi D. Lutz on the influence of marriage strategies on the political careers of German MPs elected in Bohemia and Transylvania.
In addition to the scientific program, the organizers prepared a city tour, a visit to the exhibitions in the Fort Science (interactive science centre of Palacký University Olomouc) and last but not least a social evening. The conference showed the importance of demographic research for solving some of the contemporary social problems. The panel dedicated to historical demography was organised after a long time and the positive reactions from the audience indicated that it would soon be back on the agenda again. You can find more information here.
