IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/dem/wpaper/wp-2012-005.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

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

Author

Listed:
  • 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)

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Sebastian Klüsener & Brienna Perelli-Harris & Nora E. Sánchez Gassen, 2012. "Spatial aspects of the rise of nonmarital fertility across Europe since 1960: the role of states and regions in shaping patterns of change," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2012-005, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2012-005
    DOI: 10.4054/MPIDR-WP-2012-005
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.demogr.mpg.de/en/projects_publications/publications_1904/journal_articles/spatial_aspects_of_the_rise_of_nonmarital_fertility_across_europe_since_1960_the_role_of_states_4704.htm
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.demogr.mpg.de/papers/working/wp-2012-005.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.4054/MPIDR-WP-2012-005?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:cai:poeine:pope_601_0131 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Brienna Perelli-Harris & Nora E. Sánchez Gassen, 2010. "The reciprocal relationship between the state and union formation across Western Europe: policy dimensions and theoretical considerations," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2010-034, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    3. R. Lesthaeghe & K. Neels, 2002. "From the First to the Second Demographic Transition: An Interpretation of the Spatial Continuity of Demographic Innovation in France, Belgium and Switzerland," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 18(4), pages 325-360, December.
    4. Larry Bumpass, 1990. "What’s happening to the family? Interactions between demographic and institutional change," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 27(4), pages 483-498, November.
    5. Ian N. Gregory & Jordi Marti‐Henneberg & Francisco J. Tapiador, 2010. "Modelling long‐term pan‐European population change from 1870 to 2000 by using geographical information systems," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 173(1), pages 31-50, January.
    6. Ron Lesthaeghe, 2010. "The Unfolding Story of the Second Demographic Transition," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 36(2), pages 211-251, June.
    7. Brienna Perelli-Harris & Theodore Gerber, 2011. "Nonmarital Childbearing in Russia: Second Demographic Transition or Pattern of Disadvantage?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 48(1), pages 317-342, February.
    8. Arland Thornton & Dimiter Philipov, 2009. "Sweeping Changes in Marriage, Cohabitation and Childbearing in Central and Eastern Europe: New Insights from the Developmental Idealism Framework [Transformations radicales du mariage, de la cohabi," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 25(2), pages 123-156, May.
    9. Ron J. Lesthaeghe & Lisa Neidert, 2006. "The Second Demographic Transition in the United States: Exception or Textbook Example?," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 32(4), pages 669-698, December.
    10. Buti,Marco & Deroose,Servaas & Gaspar,Vitor & Martins,João Nogueira (ed.), 2010. "The Euro," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9789279098420.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Agnese Vitali & Arnstein Aassve & Trude Lappegård, 2015. "Diffusion of Childbearing Within Cohabitation," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 52(2), pages 355-377, April.
    2. Christine Schnor, 2014. "The Effect of Union Status at First Childbirth on Union Stability: Evidence from Eastern and Western Germany," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 30(2), pages 129-160, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sebastian Klüsener & Brienna Perelli-Harris & Nora Sánchez Gassen, 2013. "Spatial Aspects of the Rise of Nonmarital Fertility Across Europe Since 1960: The Role of States and Regions in Shaping Patterns of Change [Aspects spatiaux de l’augmentation de la fécondité hors m," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 29(2), pages 137-165, May.
    2. Paola Di Giulio & Roberto Impicciatore & Maria Sironi, 2019. "The changing pattern of cohabitation: A sequence analysis approach," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 40(42), pages 1211-1248.
    3. Jennifer Kane, 2013. "A Closer Look at the Second Demographic Transition in the US: Evidence of Bidirectionality from a Cohort Perspective (1982–2006)," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 32(1), pages 47-80, February.
    4. Júlia Mikolai, 2012. "With Or Without You. Partnership Context Of First Conceptions And Births In Hungary," Demográfia English Edition, Hungarian Demographic Research Institute, vol. 55(5), pages 37-60.
    5. Brienna Perelli-Harris, 2014. "How Similar are Cohabiting and Married Parents? Second Conception Risks by Union Type in the United States and Across Europe," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 30(4), pages 437-464, November.
    6. Olga Isupova, 2015. "Trust, responsibility, and freedom: Focus-group research on contemporary patterns of union formation in Russia," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 32(11), pages 341-368.
    7. Gianluca Egidi & Luca Salvati & Andrea Falcone & Giovanni Quaranta & Rosanna Salvia & Renata Vcelakova & Antonio Giménez-Morera, 2021. "Re-Framing the Latent Nexus between Land-Use Change, Urbanization and Demographic Transitions in Advanced Economies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-17, January.
    8. Agnese Vitali & Arnstein Aassve & Trude Lappegård, 2015. "Diffusion of Childbearing Within Cohabitation," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 52(2), pages 355-377, April.
    9. Sebastian Klüsener, 2015. "Spatial variation in non-marital fertility across Europe: recent trends, past path dependencies, and potential future pathways," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2015-001, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    10. Sebastian Klüsener & Aiva Jasilioniene & Victoriya Yuodeshko, 2019. "Retraditionalization as a pathway to escape lowest-low fertility? Characteristics and prospects of the Eastern European “baby boom”," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2019-014, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    11. Hayley Pierce & Tim B. Heaton, 2020. "Cohabitation or Marriage? How Relationship Status and Community Context Influence the Well-being of Children in Developing Nations," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 39(4), pages 719-737, August.
    12. Oluwatobi Abel Alawode, 2021. "Analysis of Non-Marital Fertility in Nigeria and Implications for Intervention and Future Research," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-18, July.
    13. Laura Wright, 2019. "Union Transitions and Fertility Within First Premarital Cohabitations in Canada: Diverging Patterns by Education?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 56(1), pages 151-167, February.
    14. Nitzan Peri-Rotem & Jacqueline Scott, 2017. "Differences in partnership and marital status at first birth by women’s and their partners’ education: evidence from Britain 1991–2012," Vienna Yearbook of Population Research, Vienna Institute of Demography (VID) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, vol. 15(1), pages 181-213.
    15. Arland Thornton, 2010. "International family change and continuity: the past and future from of the developmental idealism perspective," Demográfia English Edition, Hungarian Demographic Research Institute, vol. 53(5), pages 21-50.
    16. Steven Ruggles, 2015. "Patriarchy, Power, and Pay: The Transformation of American Families, 1800–2015," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 52(6), pages 1797-1823, December.
    17. Daniela Smiraglia & Luca Salvati & Gianluca Egidi & Rosanna Salvia & Antonio Giménez-Morera & Rares Halbac-Cotoara-Zamfir, 2021. "Toward a New Urban Cycle? A Closer Look to Sprawl, Demographic Transitions and the Environment in Europe," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-14, January.
    18. Nicoletta Balbo & Francesco C. Billari & Melinda Mills, 2013. "Fertility in Advanced Societies: A Review of Research," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 29(1), pages 1-38, February.
    19. Zuzanna Brzozowska & Eva Beaujouan & Kryštof Zeman, 2022. "Is Two Still Best? Change in Parity-Specific Fertility Across Education in Low-Fertility Countries," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 41(5), pages 2085-2114, October.
    20. Andreas Klärner, 2015. "The low importance of marriage in eastern Germany - social norms and the role of peoples’ perceptions of the past," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 33(9), pages 239-272.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Europe; fertility; geography; nuptiality; spatial analysis;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2012-005. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Peter Wilhelm (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.demogr.mpg.de/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.