During most of the 18th century the Italian Hospital in Prague served mostly as a home for foundlings and orphans, who remained in the Hospital until they were around age twenty. The Hospital's death register is an important source for the study of mortality patterns among infants, children, and young persons in their teens, but the information in it has to be evaluated critically. Analysis of death patterns suggests that the Hospital's care system was not able to reduce significantly the expected high infant and child mortality rates, but also that the Hospital's residents did enjoy certain kinds of care that were not available to children in private homes. During the past two decades most of the developed countries of Europe have witnessed changes in such family-related demographic phenomena as nuptiality, divorce, and fertility. For the time being, the Czech and Slovak Republics continue to exhibit patterns established earlier in history.
Marriage is universal and is contracted at young ages.
Children are born to young parents and at short childbirth intervals. Longitudinal indicators are characterized by great stability. As a result of recent profound political, social, and economic changes, it is reasonable to expect changes in demographic behavior as well. The first of these may be a marked decline in fertility along the lines already experienced by southern European countries.