Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Fertility Trends, 1870–1967

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Abortion and Contraception in Modern Greece, 1830-1967

Part of the book series: Medicine and Biomedical Sciences in Modern History ((MBSMH))

  • 193 Accesses

Abstract

The assertion that Greek fertility decline began in the 1890s—or in 1913, according to the Princeton European Fertility Project—has dominated the understanding of Greece’s population history. As a result, the reduced levels of—albeit overwhelmingly guesstimated—Greek fertility in the period 1890–1930 were interpreted as volitional fertility decline. The higher levels recorded for the early 1930s were interpreted as a temporary bouncing back of fertility before the irrevocable decline from 1934 onwards. An alternative interpretation has been put forward here: levels of fertility in the period from around 1890 to the 1920s were low not because couples were intentionally controlling their fertility in a parity-specific way but because of the turbulent history of the country in those years and its effects on the lives of the population. The volitional, irrevirsible, parity-specific decline started in the early 1930s.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 79.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Violetta Hionidou (2016) ‘Historical demography of Greek populations’ in A. Fauve-Chamoux, I. Bolovan, S. Sogner (eds) A Global History of Historical Demography: Half a Century of Interdisciplinarity (Bern: Peter Lang), pp. 291–300.

  2. 2.

    Studies that could be included under the category of Population History did appear, mostly in the 1980s, but many of them did not further the discussion on the trends of fertility or mortality. Exceptions are the works of G. Serelea (1978) ‘Regards sur la nuptialité et la fécondité en Grèce pendant la seconde moitié du XIXème siècle’, Greek Review of Social Research, 67(1), 42–50; and, later, E. Kolodny (1992) Chóra d’ Amorgós. Un village Cycladien (Aix-en-Provence: Publications de l’Université de Provence); Vyron Kotzamanes (1988) ‘E anaparagoge ton Ellenon: Mythoi kai pragmatikoteta I. E poreia tes gennetikotetas kai tes olikes gonimotetas ste metapolemike periodo’, Greek Review of Social Research, 70(70), 136–90; Violetta Hionidou (1993) ‘The Demography of a Greek Island, Mykonos 1859–1959: A family reconstitution study’ (unpublished PhD thesis: University of Liverpool).

  3. 3.

    For a comprehensive presentation of the existing sources see Vasilios G. Valaoras (1980) ‘National primary socio-economic data structures. V: Greece’, International Social Science Journal, 32(2), 343–63.

  4. 4.

    For example, for Mykonos the 1861 census enumerators’ book is available in the local library. Violetta Hionidou (1995) ‘Nuptiality patterns and household structure on the Greek island of Mykonos, 1849–1959’, Journal of Family History, 20(1), 67–102. For Hermoupolis, the 1861, 1870 and 1789 census books are available in the Hermoupolis archives, although the 1870 and 1879 volumes cover only part of the population. Violetta Hionidou (1999) ‘Nineteenth-century urban Greek households: the case of Hermoupolis, 1861–1879’, Continuity and Change, 14(3), 403–27.

  5. 5.

    See also Averof, who adds that during the decade 1912–22 Greek men were nevertheless conscripted in preparation for war even when there was no war (Evaggelos An. Averof (1939) Symvole eis ten Ereunan tou Plethysmiakou Provlematos tes Ellados (Athens: n.p.), p. 85).

  6. 6.

    Ansley J. Coale and Susan Cotts Watkins (eds) (1986) The Decline of Fertility in Europe (Princeton: Princeton University Press), p. 166 (the date of the paper is wrongly given as 1960). G.S. Siampos and V.G. Valaoras (1971) ‘Long term fertility trends in Greece’, in International Population Conference, London 1969 (Liege: IUSSP), vol. 1, pp. 563–4. The indices of marital fertility for Greece were adjusted for the under-registration of births, which Valaoras had estimated at 35.7 per cent in 1921–24 and 9.6 per cent in 1925–28. V.G. Valaoras (1960) ‘A reconstruction of the demographic history of modern Greece’, Milbank Memorial Fund Quarterly, 38, 135.

  7. 7.

    Siampos and Valaoras, ‘Long term fertility trends’, p. 565; Coale and Cotts Watkins, The Decline, p. 38.

  8. 8.

    Siampos and Valaoras, ‘Long term fertility trends’, p. 561.

  9. 9.

    For example, childhood mortality started its decline in the 1890s on Mykonos (Hionidou, ‘The demography’, pp. 139–43).

  10. 10.

    Violetta Hionidou (1997) ‘Istorike kritike Anadrome tes gennetikotetas sten Ellada. E periptose tes Mykonou 1859–1959’, Greek Review of Social Research, 92–3, 39–48; Violetta Hionidou (2006) ‘Demografia’ in K. Kostas and S. Petmezas (eds) E Anaptexe tes Ellenikes Oikonomias kata ton 19o aiona (1830–1914) (Athens: Alexandreia), pp. 81–102. Valaoras’ work was ground-breaking at the time and he could safely be named as the creator of the field in Greece. My main objective is to illustrate that some of his results should not be used unquestioningly by contemporary historians and others.

  11. 11.

    During the period examined in this book, illegitimate fertility was extremely low and therefore will not be discussed further.

  12. 12.

    Source for Fig. 2.1: NSSG (1931) Statistical yearbook of Greece 1930, Table 41, pp. 103–4.

  13. 13.

    Sources for Fig. 2.2: NSSG (1928) Apografe tou Plethysmou tes Ellados. Genika Statistika Apotelesmata (Athens: National Printers), table IX; NSSG (1927) Statistika Apotelesmata dia ten Sterea Ellas & Voiotia (Athens: National Printers), pp. 675–6; NSSG (1929) Statistika Apotelesmata dia ten Thessalia&Arta (Athens: National Printers), pp. 488–9; NSSG (1924) Statistika Apotelesmata dia tas Ionious Nesous (Athens: National Printers), pp. 378–9; NSSG (1923) Statistika Apotelesmata dia tas Kykladas Nesous (Athens: National Printers), pp. 186–7; NSSG (1929) Statistika Apotelesmata dia ten Peloponneson (Athens: National Printers), pp. 748–9.

  14. 14.

    Serelea pointed out that, in comparison to all other regions, the Ionian islands had the lowest Im, the highest percentage of single people and the highest mean age at marriage at various points in the second half of the nineteenth century (Serelea, ‘Regards’, 44–8). The percentages of men and women who never married were also distinctly higher for the Ionian populations compared with those of Greece and the Cyclades both in 1907 and in 1920 (Vasilis S. Gavalas (2008) ‘Marriage patterns in Greece during the twentieth century’, Continuity and Change, 23(3), 517–8). This partly explains the lower CEB for the 25+ marriage duration group.

  15. 15.

    While nuptiality almost certainly played a role in the observed fertility rates, it is currently impossible to ascertain precisely what that role was. According to Gavalas’ work, the Singulate Age at Marriage for Greek females in the twentieth century showed a sharp increase of three years to 25 between 1907 and 1920, a decline of one year in 1928, a two-year increase by 1951 and a declining trend after 1951 (Gavalas , ‘Marriage’, 514). Though these changes strongly reflect war and crisis periods and the reactions of the population to these, it is difficult to link them to fertility owing to the crude nature of the measure.

  16. 16.

    Sources for Fig. 2.3: NSSG (1935) Statistika Apotelesmata Apografes Plethysmou tes Ellados 1928 (Athens: National Printers), table I, p. 3; refugee data: table II, p. 369.

  17. 17.

    ‘Old’ Greece refers to the borders of the country prior to 1910.

  18. 18.

    Vaggelis Karamanes (1999–2003) ‘Paradosiakes praktikes diaheirises tes elleipses trofimon kata ten anoixiatike metavatike periodo sta Koupatsiarika horia ton Grevenon’, Epeteris Kentrou Laografias, 29, 138, citing the diary of a local priest in Tsotyli, northern Greece. According to the diary, food prices increased and the villagers ‘panicked’ when faced with the prospect of a famine. Three of my informants also mentioned the near-famine situation when asked whether they had experienced another ‘hunger’ situation apart from that of 1941–2 (No. 10 Syros, No. 8 Hios, No. 13 Hios). The first two had had first-hand experiences as children. No. 13 conveyed information she heard from her parents since she was born in 1920. Mortality appeared to have increased, at least in Athens, with deaths recorded there increasing from 402 in November 1916 to 754 in November 1917. Georgios Hristopoulos (ed.) (1970) ‘Oikonomia kai koinonia 1914–8’, Istoria tou Ellenikou Ethnous, 15, 80–1.

  19. 19.

    Hristopoulos (ed.), ‘Oikonomia’, pp. 80–1.

  20. 20.

    Anonymous (n.d.) Ypourgeiou Episitismou. Diaheirisis 1920–1923, vol. 2 (Athens: Denaxas), p. 77.

  21. 21.

    A.F. Freris (1986) The Greek Economy in the Twentieth Century (London: Croom Helm), p. 54.

  22. 22.

    Freris, The Greek Economy, p. 54.

  23. 23.

    Anonymous, Ypourgeiou Episitismou, pp. 79–80.

  24. 24.

    Freris, The Greek Economy, pp. 60–1.

  25. 25.

    Tryfon K. Andrianakos (1925) E Maieutike kai Gynaikologia en Elladi (Athens: A. Sakellarios), p. 172. Andrianakos stressed that this concerned the affluent more, and that abortion performed by physicians and midwives was the main means of such control.

  26. 26.

    Catherine Brégianni, ‘The Gold-Exchange Standard, the Great Depression and Greece; Lessons (?) from the Interwar Greek Default’, pp. 2–4, http://www.euro.uni-bayreuth.de/en/research/publications/Euro-Symposium-2012/Catherine_Bregianni/Bregianni_Lessons_from_the_Interwar_Greek_Default.pdf, accessed 16 November 2018.

  27. 27.

    While the famine resulted in the expected fertility reduction, on Hios, because the food situation remained insecure, fertility did not recover in the last year or so of the occupation (1943–44). In contrast, in Athens, where food provisioning was secure by the end of 1942, there was an increase in fertility in the last two years.

  28. 28.

    On the impact on fertility of the psychological effects of hunger—separate from the physiological, and in many cases cumulative, see Violetta Hionidou (2006) Famine and Death in Occupied Greece, 1941–44, Cambridge Studies in Population, Economy, and Society in Past Times Series (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), pp. 178–89.

  29. 29.

    Lefteris Tsoulfidis and Michel Zouboulakis (2016) ‘Greek Sovereign Defaults in Retrospect and Prospect’, pp. 8–9, https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/71588/ MPRA Paper No. 71588, accessed 25 Novermber 2018.

  30. 30.

    Demetres Psyhogios (1986) ‘Symvole sten melete ton Demografikon fainomenon tou 19ou aiona’, Greek Review of Social Research, 36, 169.

  31. 31.

    Averof, Symvole, p. 87 quoting NSSG, Statistike Epeteris, 1937, p. 464.

  32. 32.

    Georgios Homatianos (ed.) (1909) Statistika Apotelesmata tes Genikes Apografes tou Plethysmou kata ten 27 Oktovriou 1907, vol. 1 (Athens: National Press), p. νβ.

  33. 33.

    Homatianos , Statistika, p. νγ.

  34. 34.

    Psyhogios, ‘Symvole’, 167, citing K.N. Geragas (1912) E Metanasteusis ek tou nomou Euvoias (Halkida: n.p.).

  35. 35.

    Evidence of such a practice is very widespread, and is cited in works ranging from my oral histories on Hios and Mykonos to biographies and to academic works written at the time (see, for example, the following Hios intervews: No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, No. 14, No. 15, No. 22. Of these informants, the last two related the birth intervals between their siblings to the return trips of their fathers). See also the story told by Nicholas Gage, whose married parents lived in the USA and in northern Greece; the author moved to the USA only after his mother’s death, towards the end of the Civil War in 1948 (Nicholas Gage (1989) Eleni (London: Harvill), p. 30).

  36. 36.

    Violetta Hionidou (2002) ‘“They used to go and come”. A century of circular migration from a Greek island, Mykonos 1850 to 1950’, Annales de Demographie Historique, 51–77. Movement between Athens and Mykonos was documented for the 1930s and 1950s, and similar evidence exists for other islands too. Working in ships and thus staying away from home for long periods of time has been documented for Hios, Mykonos and other ports and islands.

  37. 37.

    Nicholas Gage explains in his autobiographical memoir that such marital separation was not unusual: ‘The majority of men in Lia were itinerant tinkers and coopers who travelled far from their homes for most of the year, leaving their wives to farm their fields, rear the children, care for their parents and look after things until their husbands returned’ (Eleni, p. 30). For Mykonos, the oral histories revealed the circular migration of men working as manual labourers in the port of Piraeus in the 1920s and 1930s.

  38. 38.

    Sources for Fig. 2.4: NSSG (1935) Statistika Apotelesmata Apografes Plethysmou tes Ellados 1928 (Athens: National Printers), table I, p. 3; refugee data: table II, p. 369.

  39. 39.

    Hionidou, ‘The Demography’, Table 2.10.

  40. 40.

    Sources for Fig. 2.5: The Mykonos and Hermoupolis births were obtained from the Mykonos/Hermoupolis Civil Registration books held on Mykonos and Hermoupolis Municipalities respectively. The data for Greece are from Valaoras, ‘A Reconstruction’.

  41. 41.

    On mortality in Hermoupolis see Michalis Raftakis (2019) ‘Mortality Change in Hermoupolis, Greece (1859–1940)’ (unpublished PhD thesis: Newcastle University); On Mykonos see Hionidou, ‘The Demography’.

  42. 42.

    Valaoras’ values for the 1930s mirror those published since registration in the 1930s is considered accurate.

  43. 43.

    Sources for Fig. 2.6: Violetta Hionidou (1998) ‘The Adoption of Fertility Control on Mykonos, 1879–1959: Stopping, Spacing or Both?’, Population Studies, 52(1), 67–83; Vasilis S. Gavalas (2002) ‘Fertility transition on a Greek island’, Continuity and Change, 17(2), 133–60; Ntina Moustani (2014) ‘Oi Demografikes Exelixeis s’ena Viomehaniko Kentro: Volos, 1881–1922’ (unpublished PhD thesis: University of Thessalia). ‘Natural fertility’ here is taken to represent the absence of parity-specific control of fertility. However, see Chris Wilson, Jim Oeppen and Mike Pardoe (1988) ‘What Is Natural Fertility? The Modelling of a Concept’, Population Index, 54(1), 4–20.

  44. 44.

    Hionidou, ‘The Adoption’.

  45. 45.

    Gavalas, ‘Fertility’, 151.

  46. 46.

    Moustani, ‘Oi Demografikes’, p. 286.

  47. 47.

    Moustani, ‘Oi Demografikes’, p. 285.

  48. 48.

    NSSG (1960) Statistike tes fysikes kineseos tou Plethysmou tes Ellados kata to etos 1956 (Athens: National Printers), pp. xiv–xvi; Averof, Symvole, p. 85. According to Valaoras, in the period 1930–34 under-registration of births was at 1.3 per cent—that is, the lowest ever up to 1960 (Valaoras, ‘A reconstruction’, 135).

  49. 49.

    Sources for Fig. 2.7: 1931 births (NSSG [1933] Statistike tes fysikes kineseos tou Plethysmou tes Ellados kata to etos 1931 [thereafter SKP] [Athens: National Printers], p. ξβ); 1932 births (SKP 1934, p. 62); 1933 and 1934 births (SKP 1936, p. 68); 1935 births (SKP 1937, p. 65); 1936 births (SKP 1938, p. 60); 1937 births (SKP 1939, p. 62); 1938 births (SKP 1940, p. 53); NSSG (1935) Statistika Apotelesmata tes Apografes tou Plethysmou tes Ellados tes 15–16 Maiou 1928, vol. 2 (Athens: National Printers), p. μθ, table 17; 1935 estimated female age structure: NSSG (1966) Demographic Trends and Population Projections of Greece 1960–1985 (Athens: n.p.), p. 29); 1958–62: NSSG (1966) Demographic Trends and Population Projections of Greece 1960–1985 (Athens: n.p.), p. 33; 1963–67 ASFRs: Garyfalia Serelea (1979) ‘Oi taseis tes gonimotetas tou Ellenikou Plethysmou kata ten periodo 1956–76 kai oi deiktes metreseos tes’, Greek Review of Social Research, 36–37, 253.

  50. 50.

    The widely quoted figures of ASFRs of Greece in 1934–37 used the 1935 estimated structure. There is no information available relating to how the 1935 structure was estimated.

  51. 51.

    Sources for Fig. 2.8: 1931 births (SKP 1933, p. ξβ); 1932 births (SKP 1934, p. 62); NSSG (1935) Statistika Apotelesmata tes Apografes tou Plethysmou tes Ellados tes 15–16 Maiou 1928, vol. 2 (Athens: National Printers), p. μθ, table 17; 1958–62: NSSG (1966) Demographic Trends and Population Projections of Greece 1960–1985 (Athens: n.p.), p. 29, Female population by age and marital status from NSSG (1962) Apotelesmata tes apografes plethysmou-katoikion tes 19 Martiou 1961, Teuhos 1 (Athens: n.p.), p. 21.

  52. 52.

    For Mykonos we know that control started among the couples married in the period 1914–18 rather than among those married earlier (Hionidou, ‘The Adoption’). Sources for Fig. 2.9: 1931 births (SKP 1933, p. ξβ); Hionidou, ‘The Adoption’; Gavalas, ‘Fertility’.

  53. 53.

    The sudden change of shape may well be due to the use of a different female age structure from 1934 onwards. I have chosen to use this since all the published ASFRs of the 1930s use this estimated structure.

  54. 54.

    Averof, Symvole, p. 74.

  55. 55.

    Averof, Symvole, p. 75.

  56. 56.

    Averof, Symvole, p. 74.

  57. 57.

    In most places the vital events continued to be recorded locally and these are available to consult. Mykonos and Hermoupolis are examples, though there are many more.

  58. 58.

    Ernestine Friedl (1964) Vasilika. A Village in Modern Greece (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston), p. 50.

  59. 59.

    Serelea, ‘Oi taseis’, p. 260.

  60. 60.

    Serelea, ‘Oi taseis’, p. 260; Polyzos referred to the 131,000 migrants who left during the 1950s. Nicolas Polyzos (1959) ‘Evolution Démographique en Grèce’, IUSPP Conference, p. 447.

  61. 61.

    John Campbell undertook his fieldwork at the same time as Friedl.

  62. 62.

    Friedl, Vasilika, p. 50.

  63. 63.

    Friedl, Vasilika, p. 54.

  64. 64.

    Richard Blum and Eva Blum (1965) Health and Healing in Rural Greece (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press), pp. 72–3.

  65. 65.

    Vasilios Valaoras, A. Polychronopoulou and D. Trichopoulos (1965) ‘Control of Family Size in Greece (The Results of a Field Survey)’, Population Studies, 18(3), 265–78.

  66. 66.

    The survey covered women who started their childbearing after 1935 and women who started in the early 1960s. Valaoras et al., ‘Control’, 271.

  67. 67.

    Valaoras et al., ‘Control’, 274.

  68. 68.

    Sources for Fig. 2.10: Vas. G. Valaoras (1971) ‘Changing Patterns of Fertility Differentials (The Case of Greece)’, International Population Conference, London 1969 (Liege: IUSSP), pp. 2074–80; Gerasimos Alivizatos (1947) Mnemonion Ygieines (Athens: n.p.).

  69. 69.

    Lila Leontidou (1989) Oi Poleis tes Siopes (Athens: ETVA), p. 301.

  70. 70.

    However, a large part of its population was rural.

  71. 71.

    Tryfon K. Andrianakos (1 May 1930) ‘Organosis tes proleptikes iatrikes pros katapolemesin tes tehnetes ektroseos kai prostasian tes teknogonias kai tes metrotetos (anakoinosis en to A Panellenion Synedrion Ygieines)’, Ellenike Iatrike, 4(10), 1025; Alexandra Halkias (2004) The Empty Cradle of Democracy: Sex, Abortion, and Nationalism in Modern Greece (Durham, NC: Duke University Press).

  72. 72.

    Antonios I. Kindynes (1889) E Steirosis para te Gynaiki kai Therapeia autes (Athens: Vlastos Varvaregos), pp. 9–10.

  73. 73.

    Kindynes, E Steirosis, p. 10.

  74. 74.

    Kindynes, E Steirosis, p. 10.

  75. 75.

    Kindynes, E Steirosis, p. 11.

  76. 76.

    Thus, unless stated otherwise, the assumption should be that the cited author is a physician.

  77. 77.

    Mihael Nik. Kaires (1917) E Eugonia. Dialexis genomene en te aithouse tes Sinaias Akademias te 24 Martiou 1917 (Athens: Adelfoi Frantzeskake), p. 12.

  78. 78.

    M. Moyseides (1922) Eugonismos kai Gamos (Constantinople: n.p.), p. 22.

  79. 79.

    However, in the preceding paragraph he cited figures showing that marriage rates were the strongest in Athens in 1920–21 (Moyseides, Eugonismos, p. 21).

  80. 80.

    Moyseides, Eugonismos, p. 21.

  81. 81.

    Athanasios Vettos Danielides archimadrite (1924) E Zoe ton Neon (Athens: Paraskeuas Leones), p. 171.

  82. 82.

    Danielides, E Zoe, p. 171.

  83. 83.

    Gregorios Hatzevasileiou (1925) ‘To provlema tou Plethysmou en Elladi’, Arheion Oikonomikon kai Koinonikon Epistemon, 5(3), 263.

  84. 84.

    Hatzevasileiou, ‘To provlema’, 264.

  85. 85.

    Hatzevasileiou, ‘To provlema’, 264.

  86. 86.

    A. Sygkelakes (1927) The Secret Hygiene of Woman (Alexandria: Grammata), p. 53.

  87. 87.

    Sygkelakes, The Secret, p. 53.

  88. 88.

    Ironically, the term the author uses is ‘a Christian’! Sygkelakes, The Secret, p. 52.

  89. 89.

    Sygkelakes, The Secret, p. 52.

  90. 90.

    Sygkelakes, The Secret, p. 51.

  91. 91.

    Auguste Forel (1931) The Sexual Question: A Scientific, Psychological, Hygienic and Sociological Study, translated by C.F. Marshall, 1st edn 1903 (New York: Physicians and Surgeons Book Company).

  92. 92.

    Anonymous (1925) ‘Dia ten Praxin. Kathegetes A. Forel. Mesa di on kanonizetai e parakolyetai e syllepsis’, Klinike, 1(6), 187–9. All three publications refer to eugenic reasons as well. For an extensive discussion of inter-war and post-World War II eugenics see Sevasti Trubeta (2013) Physical Anthropology, Race and Eugenics in Greece (1880–1970s) (Leiden: Brill), chapter 8.

  93. 93.

    M. Moyseides (1925) E Gyne. Ygieine tou Gamou kai tes Eggamou Gynaikos (Alexandria: A. Katsigone), pp. 60–1.

  94. 94.

    Apostolos Doxiadis (1927) ‘Koinonike Viologia, viologike politike’, Ellenika Grammata, 3(3), (16 July 1928), 95–9. Doxiadis published this piece only after Venizelos’ Liberal government was appointed on 4 July 1928.

  95. 95.

    Doxiadis, ‘Koinonike Viologia’, 95–6.

  96. 96.

    Doxiadis, ‘Koinonike Viologia’, 95.

  97. 97.

    Doxiadis, ‘Koinonike Viologia’, 98.

  98. 98.

    Doxiadis, ‘Koinonike Viologia’, 98.

  99. 99.

    Trubeta, Physical Anthropology, pp. 239–46.

  100. 100.

    N.N. Drakoulides (1933) Ygeia kai Gamos. Me poia mesa prostateuontai? To progamiaio pistopoietiko (Athens: Hronika), pp. 20–1.

  101. 101.

    Demosthenes Eleutheriades (10 August 1930) ‘Liga paidia, kale trofe’, Peitharhia, 1(43), 7–9.

  102. 102.

    Articles on overpopulation abounded, especially in the early 1930s (I.L. Halkokondyles (12 January 1930), Peitharhia, 1(13); Per. D. Rediades (2 March 1930) Peitharhia, 1(20); Eleutheriades, ‘Liga paidia’, 7–9; A. Doxiadis (10 March 1931) ‘Yperplethysmos’, Eleutheron Vema; A. Doxiadis (12 March 1931) ‘Mporei e sfaira na threpsei ton auxanomeno plethysmo?’, Eleutheron Vema).

  103. 103.

    Solon Veras (14 June 1930) ‘E prostasia tes teknogonias’, Ergasia, 1(23), 19–20.

  104. 104.

    Zoe Fragkou (20 July 1930) ‘E Oikogeneia kai to mellon tes’, part A, Peitharhia, 1(40), 9; Zoe Fragkou (27 July 1930) ‘E Oikogeneia kai to mellon tes’, part B, Peitharhia, 1(41), 9–10.

  105. 105.

    Solon Veras (14 June 1930) ‘E prostasia tes teknogonias’, Ergasia, 1(23), 19–20.

  106. 106.

    Eleutheriades, ‘Liga paidia’, 7–9.

  107. 107.

    N.S. Louros (21 June 1930) ‘E prostasia tes teknogonias’, Ergasia, 1(24), 15–16; M. Yioel (1938) Steirosis e Egkymosyne kata Voulesin, 2nd edn, first edn 1936 (Athens: Vasileiou), p. 7.

  108. 108.

    Andrianakos, ‘Organosis’, 1026–8.

  109. 109.

    Kostas Hatziotes (24 August 1930) ‘Allelografia. Ta liga paidia’, Peitharhia, 1(44).

  110. 110.

    Apostolos Doxiadis (13 September 1930) ‘O anaplethysmos tes Ellados’, Eleutheron Vema. Yoel, writing in 1936, also mentions that the majority of workers and peasants were not restricting their fertility (Yioel, Steirosis, p. 79), and adds that, prior to World War I, the majority of urban couples did not control their fertility either.

  111. 111.

    Apostolos Doxiadis (8 March 1931) Eleutheron Vema.

  112. 112.

    Apostolos Doxiadis (15 March 1931) Eleutheron Vema.

  113. 113.

    M.R. (10 September 1930) ‘Polyteknia’, Eleutheron Vema.

  114. 114.

    In September 1930 Doxiadis was arguing for the improvement of the survival of infants and the ‘adjustment’ of fertility: that is, more babies among the upper classes and fewer among the lower classes (Apostolos Doxiadis (11 September 1930) ‘Periorismos e diarrythmisis ton genneseon?’, Eleutheron Vema ). By March of the following year he had refined his message, arguing that there should be no ‘propaganda’ encouraging procreation among the lower classes but that the middle and upper classes should be encouraged to have more children (Apostolos Doxiadis (15 March 1931) Eleutheron Vema).

  115. 115.

    M.I. Vastagos (30 December 1934) Eleutheron Vema, CBR 1928–34: 29.5, rural areas 30.9, towns 25.6.

  116. 116.

    Averof, Symvole, p. 74.

  117. 117.

    Averof, Symvole, p. 75.

  118. 118.

    V. Katsougiannopoulos and Th. Edipides (1973) Syghronoi Demografikai Ropai tes Ellados 1951–71 (Thessaloniki: n.p.), p. 496.

  119. 119.

    Demetrios Th. Stefanou (1963) O Plethysmos tes Ges, o Periorismos ton Genneseon kai to Demografikon mas Provlema (Athens: n.p.), p. 31; Nikolaos Hr. Settas (1964) To Demografikon kai to Koinonikooikonomikon Provlema tes Elladas (Athens: n.p.), pp. 36–8.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. History, Classics & Archaeology, Newcastle University, Newcastle, UK

    Violetta Hionidou

Authors
  1. Violetta Hionidou
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Violetta Hionidou .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Hionidou, V. (2020). Fertility Trends, 1870–1967. In: Abortion and Contraception in Modern Greece, 1830-1967. Medicine and Biomedical Sciences in Modern History. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41490-0_2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41490-0_2

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-41489-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-41490-0

  • eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation