Le retard à la procréation en Europe [The delay in procreation in Europe]

At the individual level, a very strong negative relationship is observed between age at first birth and total number of children. At the country level, factors that reduce fertility at younger ages – for example, the priority given to the couple or work – and those that stimulate fertility at older ages – for example, good opportunities for reconciling career and family – are not necessarily related. A high age at first births may therefore result from a decline in youth fertility that is not necessarily associated with an increase in fertility at older ages. We study the fertility of women and the average age at birth of their children, especially their evolution over the last forty years, in countries in all parts of Europe. The increase in births after age 30 has been relatively independent of the decline at younger ages, by period but also in the generations of women. When we compare the countries with each other, or the changes in behavior in different European countries, we do not find the relationship observed at the individual level. Context effects largely dominate individual constraints and play an important role in the occurrence of later births.