The Postponement of Childbearing in Europe: Driving Forces and Implications

Postponement has been a major keyword in the description and the study of demographic trends observed in developed countries during the last decades. With few exceptions, during the recent decades demographic events such as those leading to the formation of new households and families have occurred later and later in the lives of women and men. Although considerable heterogeneity exists both between and within countries in this general pattern of postponement, almost everywhere in the developed world events such as leaving the parental home, forming a new union, getting married and becoming a parent are being experienced on average later in life than ever before. Postponement has been particularly important in understanding the fertility decline observed across Europe over the last few decades. As Table 1 makes clear, such postponement has been pervasive, with increases in the mean age at first birth of the order of magnitude of three or four years during the 1980-2004 period (with the exception of Russia). Correspondingly, also the general mean age at childbearing has increased. As a consequence of the observation of these stylised facts, understanding the causes and consequences of fertility postponement has been high on the demographic research agenda. However, many open questions still remain: How exactly should postponement be defined and measured? What is its effect on fertility levels? How does it interact with other life course events? What are its bio-medical and socio-economic dimensions? And, finally, what are the consequences, and should governments intervene with adequate policies? These