Book Description
This report presents the results from a socio-demographic analysis of danish fertility trends in the 1980s. The analysis is based on information extracted from the Fertility Database established by Danmarks Statistik in 1990-1992. The fertility Database has made it possible to conduct a more differentiated analysis of fertility trends than previously and to relate the trends to specific social characteristics of women as well as men. The Fertility Database comprises information on all women and men, in the reproductive age groups, resident in Denmark in the 1980s, the number of children they have and an annual classification of their socio-demographic conditions. The annual statistics reveal a declining fertility level in Denmark from the end of the 19th century to the mid-1930s, a heigher level from the early 1940s to the mid-1960s after which fertility declinined to the beginning of the 1980s followed by a still ongoing increase. Trends in fertility have differed from age group to age group. Although it has been possible to give a detailed demographic description of fertility trends, the underlying social mechanisms have been analyzed only to a limited extent.