Tóth Ferenc szerk.: Fiatal Néprajzkutatók Országos Konferenciája. Makó, 1991. augusztus 26-28. A Makói Múzeum Füzetei 75. (Makó, 1993)

KUTATÁSI BESZÁMOLÓK - VARRÓ ÁGNES: Specialisták a népi orvoslásban

I ABSTRACT ONLY-CHILSDISM IN THE REGION "SÁRKÖZ" IN THE MIRROR OF PARISH REGISTERS Sándor Balázs Kovács It was a generally accepted theory in earlier studies that, in the region of "Sárköz," the system of having only one child in a family appeared in the 1870s and could be connected with the aboliton of serfdom, with anti-inundation work, and prosperity which followed the reclamation of the marsh-lands. Our research of parish registers, however, proves that limitation of births appeared in Sárköz at the turn of the 18th and the 19th centuries. This period was the beginning of a sudden demographic transition. Due to the improved rate of mortality, first the natural increase was significant. The number of the population rose considerably; the area of arable land, however, remained meagre. In this situation, a smaller part of the population - primarily the poor - opted for emigration. In economically more stable households, on the other hand, the number of the members of the family increased due to the fact that a part of the children who got married stayed in one household with their parents. The average size of a household, however, could not go beyond the bounds of feasibility; the fear of impoverishment set limits to the division of households. That is why the families in Sárköz turned to birth-limitation to a greater degree. This method was part of a strategy of adapting to the conditions of the economic environment. 144