Report

Recent patterns in group-specific total fertility in Finland

Abstract

Recent patterns in duration-based Total Fertility are given in register data for some 111 000 Finnish women, subdivided by union status: not in union, cohabiting, or married, the latter subdivided by the length of any pre-marital cohabitation. The marital TFR is highest among the directly married and declines monotonically as the length of pre-marital cohabitation increases, though the TFR contribution of the pre-marital period partly compensates for the decline. Married women have much higher fertility than cohabitants. The TFR by educational attainment displays a watershed as women reach a tertiary education, with the highest TFR at middle educational levels and considerably lower fertility among the more highly educated so long as educational attainment is measured by the latest level currently reached. With the more conventional measure of the highest level currently ever attained, the pattern becomes radically different in Finland with its flexible educational system.