The German Birth Order Register - order-specific data generated from perinatal statistics and statistics on out-of-hospital births 2001-2008

Michaela R. Kreyenfeld, Rembrandt D. Scholz, Frederik Peters and Ines Wlosnewski
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Michaela R. Kreyenfeld: Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany
Rembrandt D. Scholz: Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany
Frederik Peters: Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany
Ines Wlosnewski: Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany

No WP-2010-010, MPIDR Working Papers from Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany

Abstract: Until 2008, Germany’s vital statistics did not include information on the biological order of each birth. This resulted in a dearth of important demographic indicators, such as the mean age at first birth and the level of childlessness. Researchers have tried to fill this gap by generating order-specific birth rates from survey data, and by combining survey data with vital statistics. This paper takes a different approach by using hospital statistics on births to generate birth order-specific fertility rates for the period 2001 to 2008. Hospital statistics include information on births that took place in German hospitals. Out-of-hospital deliveries, which account for about two percent of all births, are not included in the hospital data. In a sensitivity analysis, we show how robust our estimates are to the inclusion of out-of-hospital births. Our general assessment is that the hospital data are a valuable source for generating order-specific fertility rates, regardless of whether out-of-hospital births are included.

Keywords: Germany; fertility (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J1 Z0 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 36 pages
Date: 2010
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2010-010

DOI: 10.4054/MPIDR-WP-2010-010

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