The recent decline in period fertility in England and Wales: differences associated with family background and intergenerational educational mobility

Publication type

Journal Article

Author

Publication date

June 7, 2023

Summary:

During 2010–20, period fertility in England and Wales fell to its lowest recorded level. The aim of this paper is to improve our understanding of the decline in period fertility in two dimensions: differentials by the education of a woman's parents (family background) and by a woman's education in relation to that of her parents (intergenerational educational mobility). The analysis finds a substantial decline in fertility in each education group, whether defined by a woman's parents’ education alone or by a woman's own education relative to her parents’ education. Considering parents’ and women's own education together helps differentiate fertility further than analysing either generation's education in isolation. Using these educational mobility groups more clearly shows a narrowing of TFR differentials over the decade, but timing differences persist.

Published in

Population Studies

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1080/00324728.2023.2215224

ISSN

324728

Subjects

Notes

Open Access

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons CC BY license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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