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Educational field and fertility in western Germany: an analysis of women born between 1955 and 1959

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  • Anja Oppermann

Abstract

The existing research on education and fertility has been enriched by studies that take into account educational field in addition to educational level. The present paper adds western Germany, which has exceptionally high levels of childlessness, to the list of cases for which comparable research has been conducted. The association between educational attainment, childlessness, and ultimate fertility among women born between 1955 and 1959 is examined using data from the 2008 German Microcensus. Despite the strong association with the level of education, childlessness also varies by educational field in western Germany. Consistent with findings from other countries, the results show that women educated in teaching and health care have the lowest rates of childlessness at each educational level, while women educated in administration, economics or social sciences have the highest levels of childlessness. Educational field and level account equally for variation in ultimate fertility.

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  • Anja Oppermann, 2017. "Educational field and fertility in western Germany: an analysis of women born between 1955 and 1959," Vienna Yearbook of Population Research, Vienna Institute of Demography (VID) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, vol. 15(1), pages 239-267.
    • Handle: RePEc:vid:yearbk:v:15:y:2017:i:1:p:239-267
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    2. Kostas Rontos & Luca Salvati, 2020. "Space Matters? Exploring Gender Differentials in the Age at Marriage, Greece (1980–2017)," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-18, April.
    3. Ilaria Zambon & Kostas Rontos & Cecilia Reynaud & Luca Salvati, 2020. "Toward an unwanted dividend? Fertility decline and the North–South divide in Italy, 1952–2018," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 54(1), pages 169-187, February.
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    5. Jesus Rodrigo-Comino & Gianluca Egidi & Luca Salvati & Giovanni Quaranta & Rosanna Salvia & Antonio Gimenez-Morera, 2021. "High-to-Low (Regional) Fertility Transitions in a Peripheral European Country: The Contribution of Exploratory Time Series Analysis," Data, MDPI, vol. 6(2), pages 1-14, February.

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