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Within Europe, Croatia has always been noted for its low rate of births outside marriage. In relation to other European countries, only Greece, North Macedonia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina have lower extra-marital birth rates than Croatia. Croatia is particularly heterogeneous in terms of the extra-marital birth rate. An analysis of various settlements shows that the country is divided into two parts: the northwest part with Istria, where the extra-marital birth rate is significantly higher than the national average, and central and eastern Slavonia with central and southern Dalmatia, where the rate is the lowest. In this southern area, the island of Korčula stands out because of its very high extra-marital birth rate. Compared to the other islands, Korčula has a much higher rate, which increased steadily between 1971 and 2017 (from 12% to 38%). On the other islands (Rab, Krk, Pag, Ugljan and Pašman, Brač, and Hvar), the extra-marital birth rate during the same period ranged between 5% and 10%. Only Cres, Lošinj and especially Vis showed higher rates (25% on Cres and Lošinj, 32% on Vis). The objective of this research was to analyze the trends of births outside marriage on the larger Croatian islands for nearly fifty years (1970-2019). Our research focused on the islands of Korčula (especially the western part - Vela Luka and Blato) and Cres and Lošinj, which stood out from the other islands throughout the observation period because of significantly higher rates of children born outside marriage. Along with data from the Croatian Bureau of Statistics about birth rates, information from 19th-century birth registers was also used to explain the reasons for births outside marriage. The extra-marital birth rates in Croatia and islands (1960-2019) could apply to other European countries. Also, this analysis may serve as a basis for further research into the sociological, anthropological, and ethnological character of the island. |
