LONG-TERM TRENDS IN INFANT MORTALITY RATES IN POST-SOCIALIST EU COUNTRIES
LONG-TERM TRENDS IN INFANT MORTALITY RATES IN POST-SOCIALIST EU COUNTRIES

Summary/Abstract: Motives: Post-socialist European countries experienced significant political turmoil and economic and social changes in the late 1980s and the early 1990s due to regime change. These changes hada profound impact on their subsequent socioeconomic and demographic development. Since infantmortality rates (IMRs) are closely related to socio-economic changes, this study was undertaken todetermine whether these changes affected IMRs in the transitional period.Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the changes in IMRs in eleven post-socialist Europeancountries that are currently European Union (EU) members, and to compare IMRs in these countrieswith the remaining EU Member States. The changes in the slope of the IMR trend line were determinedby a joinpoint regression analysis. The influence of gross domestic product (GDP) per capita based onpurchasing power parity (PPP) on IMRs in all EU countries was also examined.Results: It was found that the collapse of the socialist regime increased IMRs in post-socialist EUcountries, and that contrary to other EU Member States, the changes in GDP per capita PPP continueto have a significant impact on IMRs in post-socialist EU countries.

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