High suburban fertility: evidence from four Northern European countries

Hill Kulu, Paul J. Boyle and Gunnar Andersson
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Hill Kulu: Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany
Paul J. Boyle: Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany
Gunnar Andersson: Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany

No WP-2008-021, MPIDR Working Papers from Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany

Abstract: This study examines fertility variation across different residential contexts in four Northern European countries: Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. We move beyond the conventional urban-rural focus of most previous studies of within-nation variations in fertility by distinguishing between urban centres and suburbs of cities and towns. We base our study on aggregate and individual-level register data and our analysis shows that fertility levels are significantly higher in suburbs than in urban centres; this pattern has persisted over the past quarter of a century for all four countries. A parity-specific analysis of Swedish register data reveals that total fertility varies between central cities and suburbs due to the relatively high first- and second-birth propensities in the suburbs. Further analysis shows that fertility variation between the central cities and suburbs persists after controlling for women’s socioeconomic characteristics. We discuss the role of various factors in accounting for high suburban fertility including omitted individual characteristics, contextual factors and selective residential moves of couples planning to have a child.

Keywords: Europe; fertility; suburban areas (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J1 Z0 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 24 pages
Date: 2008
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eec and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2008-021

DOI: 10.4054/MPIDR-WP-2008-021

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