Spatial aspects of the rise of nonmarital fertility across Europe since 1960: the role of states and regions in shaping patterns of change

Sebastian Klüsener, Brienna Perelli-Harris and Nora E. Sánchez Gassen
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Sebastian Klüsener: Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany
Brienna Perelli-Harris: Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany
Nora E. Sánchez Gassen: Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany

No WP-2012-005, MPIDR Working Papers from Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany

Abstract: This paper investigates the role of states and regions in shaping spatial patterns of non-marital fertility in Europe since 1960 using a dataset of 497 European subnational regions and smaller countries. Almost all regions registered substantial nonmarital fertility increases over the last 50 years. Prior research by Watkins (1991) has shown that in the first half of the 20th century states played a dominant role in drawing the demographic map of Europe. As a result, subnational regional variation decreased, while differences between countries increased. In this paper, we investigate whether states continue to play such a dominant role in delineating patterns of nonmarital fertility between 1960 and 2007. We find that variation in nonmarital fertility levels increased as a whole across Europe, and states continued to be important for determining these patterns. However, the role of states relative to regions declined in the latest period examined (1990 and 2007). Possible explanations for the changes include increased supranational integration, for example within the European Union, and decentralisation within states leading to increases in variation in subnational contextual conditions.

Keywords: Europe; fertility; geography; nuptiality; spatial analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J1 Z0 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 54 pages
Date: 2012
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem, nep-eur, nep-geo, nep-his and nep-ure
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2012-005

DOI: 10.4054/MPIDR-WP-2012-005

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