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The objective of the study is to evaluate changes in the health situation in European post-Communist countries in the period of 1990–2012. The spatial range covers the European part of the former Warsaw Pact (within the limits from 1956) plus the former Yugoslavia, but without the former German Democratic Republic and Russia. Five variables were analysed: crude death rate per 1,000 population; estimated infant deaths per 1,000 live births; difference between life expectancy at birth between males and females (in years); incidence of tuberculosis per 100,000 population; incidence of syphilis and gonorrhoea infections per 100,000 population. Four groups of countries differing from one another in the health situation in the analysed period. The first two groups (with a relatively good or average health situation) include the former Communist countries that in the past did not belong to the former Soviet Union. All post-Soviet countries plus Bulgaria and Romania qualified as countries with a poor or very poor health situation. Belonging or not to the former USSR in the past and fast and efficient system reforms were considered to be the main factors differentiating the situation. Of secondary importance are regional factors, such as: substantial demographic age in some societies, the status of women as a result of historical circumstances, civil wars and a different diet.

Wyróżniono pięć grup problemów monitoringu sytuacji społecznej na szczeblu lokalnym, wynikających z: (1) problemów czasowych związanych z dopływem danych; (2) małej częstotliwości lub wyraźnej specyfiki procesu; (3) problemów z delimitacją jednostek przestrzennych; (4) problemów z czynnikiem ludzkim; (5) trudności w jednoznacznym definiowaniu wskaźników. W artykule poddano analizie ostatnią z wymienionych grup, wyodrębniając problemy związane z: (1) zmiennością w czasie definicji lub klasyfikacji; (2) trudnościami w operacjonalizacji pojęć; (3) różnicami w liczeniu wskaźników na różnych szczeblach podziału terytorialnego. Zaproponowano rozwiązania mające zmniejszyć negatywny wpływ tych problemów na jakość danych. Częścią wspólną tych rozwiązań jest konieczność dokładnego podawania definicji wskaźników oraz zmian w klasyfikacjach.

Monitorując sytuację społeczną na szczeblu regionalnym i lokalnym spotykamy się z pięcioma grupami problemów wynikających z: (1) uwarunkowań czasowych, (2) małej częstotliwości lub wyraźnej specyfiki procesu, (3) niemożności jednoznacznego zdefiniowania wskaźników, (4) trudności z delimitacją jednostek, (5) tzw. czynnika ludzkiego. Główne cele artykułu są dwa. Pierwszym jest omówienie jednej z grup problemów – związanej z czasową dostępnością danych. Drugim celem jest przedstawienie propozycji radzenia sobie (tam, gdzie to jest możliwe) z tą grupą problemów. W ramach omawianej grupy problemów wyróżniono te wynikające z dużego opóźnienia w dostępie do danych oraz będące rezultatem gromadzenia danych w okresie rzadszym niż roczny.

Publikacja została sfinansowana z grantu badawczego "Przemiany demograficzne i sytuacja zdrowotna w państwach kandydujących do Unii Europejskiej". Projekt pod numerem:: 3 P04E 024 23; numer umowy z Komitetem Badań Naukowych: 0119/P04/2002/23. ; Marcin Polom

As a result of the events which took place in Central Europe in the years 1989-1990 a totally new geopolitical situation came into existence. It was directly caused by the dismantling of the communist bloc. There were several changes noticed on the press market: an increase of the number of different newspapers, evident diversification of politic a I objectives of the newspapers, setting up newspapers conveying almost entirely reliable information, releasing short-lived newspapers, closure or considerable reduction in circulation of the former communist parties' newspapers, consolidation of publishing houses and noticeable changes in newspapers' circulation. The objective of this paper is to analyse (present) the impact of the collapse of the communist regimes (systems) on the daily newspaper market size (circulation) in the first years of the political transformation in those countries. The geographical range covers almost all European post-communist countries, except Russia, Bosnia and Herzegowina and Moldavia. The time range refers to the years 1990-1996 when the communist bloc came into its phase of decay. The analysis made it possible to divide the post-communist countries into five groups. The first group is made up of the countries in which the newspaper circulation decreased. This group falls into two subgroups. One of them consists of countries with average and big circulation of newspapers in the analysed time range (Ukraine, Lithuania, Estonia, Hungary, Belarus) and the Czech Republic (as the country of a large press circulation). A separate second group includes Slovenia with its average reading habit contrasted with continuously growing press circulation. Another group consists of countries in which there was an immediate increase in newspapers' circulation after 1999 giving then way to its fall. This type includes countries with a high reading habit (Slovenia and Romania), as well as those of average reading habit (Latvia and Poland) and a very low reading habit (Albania). The fourth group of countries suffered the collapse of the press market directly after the tumbling of communism which then led to a revival of circulation. Such changes in the newspaper sales were typical of Bulgaria (high average circulation) and Croatia and Macedonia (very law average circulation). Yugoslavia makes up a separate group where the circulation of newspapers fluctuates and does not show any stable tendency. While the demographic situation, observance of freedom in general and freedom of the press in particular are related to standards of living and the pace of reforms, there is no tangible relationship between the above mentioned aspects and reading habits concerning daily newspapers. ; Marcin Polom

AbstractWhile people of many nationalities live in Ukraine, Ukrainians and Russians constitute the majority of its population. Territorially, the Ukrainian language is spread unevenly, which results in pronounced bilingualism and language bipolarity. The influence of the Soviet policy of the Russian language dominance is still present in Ukraine. Ukrainian prevails in the sphere of public administration and education. Russian dominates in most mass media. Under such circumstances it is important to maintain conditions for the preservation of the language identity of other ethnic minorities, which would promote the development of linguistic diversity in Ukraine.

The post-communist transformation of Ukraine differs significantly from that of other countries of Central and Eastern Europe. First of all, Ukraine's transition from totalitarianism to democracy has been long and still remains uncompleted. The process of the democratic transformation in Ukraine is non-linear and can be described by frequent changes in transformation phases. The ultimate result of the country's transformation determines to a considerable extent the geopolitical stability in entire Central and Eastern Europe.

W pierwszej części artykułu omówiono główne czynniki (wewnętrzne i zewnętrzne), które wpłynęły na procesy transformacji ustrojowej w europejskich i zakaukaskich krajach postkomunistycznych. W drugiej części artykułu skupiono się na czynnikach, które zadecydowały, że jak dotychczas proces transformacji ustrojowej na Ukrainie jest bardzo słabo zaawansowany.

International audience Using Benford's Law, we find evidence supporting the hypothesis that countries at times misreport their economic data strategically. We group countries with similar economic conditions and find that for countries with fixed exchange rate regimes, high negative net foreign asset positions, negative current account balances or more vulnerable to capital flow reversals we reject the first-digit law for the balance of payments data. This corroborates the intuition of a simple economic model. The main results do not seem to be driven by countries in Sub-Saharan Africa or those with low institutional quality ratings.

This study gives an analysis of the diversification of the demographic situation in the rural areas of Ukraine in the years 1992–2011 in a regional depiction (it corresponds to the NUTS 2 division applied in the European Union). The demographic situation of the rural population is undergoing increasingly distinct deterioration. It is the worst in central Ukraine and relatively the best in its western part. This is an effect of political, economic and social processes initiated in today's Ukraine after World War One. It overlaps with negative effects of the processes of political transformation taking place in already independent Ukraine. The chances of improving the demographic situation in rural areas are rather slim and depend on two factors: (1) a fundamental change in the state policy towards the Ukrainian countryside and (2) overcoming a prolonged socio-economic crisis.