|
Czechoslovakia ETHNIC GROUPS
Czechoslovakia's ethnic composition in 1987 offered a stark
contrast to that of the First Republic. No large secessionist
German community troubled the society, and Carpatho-Ukraine (poor
and overwhelmingly Ukrainian and Hungarian) had been ceded to the
Soviet Union following World War II. Czechs and Slovaks, about
two-thirds of the First Republic's populace in 1930, represented
about 94 percent of the population by 1950. The aspirations of
ethnic minorities had been the pivot on which the First
Republic's politics turned. This was no longer the case in the
1980s. Nevertheless, ethnicity continued to be a pervasive issue
and an integral part of Czechoslovak life. Although the country's
ethnic composition had been simplified, the division between
Czechs and Slovaks remained; each group had a distinct history
and divergent aspirations.
From 1950 through 1983, the Slovak share of the total
population increased steadily. The Czech population as a portion
of the total declined by about 4 percent, while the Slovak
population increased by slightly more than that. The actual
numbers were hardly such as to imperil a Czech majority; in 1983
there were still more than two Czechs for every Slovak. In the
mid-1980s, the respective fertility rates were fairly close, but
the Slovak fertility rate was declining more slowly.
Data as of August 1987
|
