Size and structure of private-sector farmers' families

The article presents diversification of procreation behaviours of farmers according to marital cohorts, birth generations of mothers, area of farms and macroregion of residence. Subject to analysis were 1623 two- and one-parent farmer families living on the whole territory of Poland on Dec. 31, 1984. The results indicate that the number of children in such families gradually decreases. In the early 1960s there were 3,8 children in the farmer family, in the early 1970s —3,4, whereas in the second half of the 1970s —2,9 children. The research allowed to observe some demographic regularities. In particular, 1) the number of children rises with the family-development stage; 2) intensity and character of influence of the area of a farm on the number of children depend on the family development stage and marriage cohort; 3) the highest mean size of a family appears in the north, north-east, south-west and south-east macroregions while the lowest in the middle-east, central and Warsaw macroregions. In comparison with the town family, which since thе 1960s has been characterized by a reduced reproduction, the farmer family guarantees continuity of generations. It assumes the first-rate role in the process of reproduction of population in the country.Digitalizacja i deponowanie archiwalnych zeszytów RPEiS sfinansowane przez MNiSW w ramach realizacji umowy nr 541/P-DUN/201