Fertility Policy in Ceausescu's Romania

Abstract

This study tests a model for the impact that Ceausescu's pro-natalist policies had on the Romanian fertility rate between 1967 and 1989. Using time-series analysis, the authors' findings show that the Ceausescu regime continually struggled with the Romanian population to increase the national birthrate. As a result of the regime's policies, there was a significant increase in overall fertility between 1967 and 1989, when the Ceausescu regime was overthrown. Reasons are offered as to why Romania pursued such policies and was able to make them work, while other Eastern and Central European regimes proved to be less able to sustain drives to increase national fertility. This article also presents a model of what has happened to the Romanian fertility rate since 1989, showing that there has been a significant decline in fertility in the post-Communist period.