A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Regional differentiation in women’s educational gradients in fertility around the turn of the century: Urban-rural differences in northern and western Europe
Authors: Wood, Jonas; Marynissen, Leen; Nisén, Jessica; Fallesen, Peter; Neels, Karel; Trimarchi, Alessandra; Dommermuth, Lars; van Gaalen, Ruben; Kolk, Martin; Martikainen, Pekka
Publisher: Austrian Academy of Sciences Press
Publication year: 2025
Journal: Vienna Yearbook of Population Research
Volume: 2025
ISSN: 1728-4414
eISSN: 1728-5305
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1553/P-4CGN-NZ7F
Web address : https://doi.org/10.1553/P-4CGN-NZ7F
Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/492115527
Scholars agree that educational gradients in fertility vary by context, with indications of more positive educational gradients in northern and western Europe since the turn of the century. However, despite theoretical and empirical research on rural-urban differences in fertility, our understanding of subnational regional variation and urban-rural differences in the relationship between education and fertility remains limited. Utilising large-scale administrative data from seven countries (Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden) at around the turn of the century, this study identifies substantial subnational regional differences in the association between female education on the one hand, and birth hazards or synthetic parity progression ratios on the other. With respect to urbanisation, we find that higher shares of foreign-born women in more urbanised populations are associated with more negative educational gradients in fertility. Hence, we present a first descriptive step towards the development of a research agenda to explain regional and urban-rural variation in educational gradients in fertility.
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