Determinants of fertility in advanced societies

This book provides a comprehensive review of recent research and the development of theories on the social factors influencing fertility in advanced societies. First, all the major research studies are examined by type of source: historical demographic data, time series, census data, international and inter-regional cross-sectional analyses, and fertility surveys. They are described fully and their relative merits or shortcomings discussed. Second, the author considers the various factors that influence fertility: income, socioeconomic status, education, social mobility, urban versus rural residence, migration, employment and emancipation of women, religious denomination and ethnic subculture, psychological factors, and population policy. Empirical analyses and theories on the different influences of these factors, singly and in combination, and the interactions between them, are fully reviewed. Finally, Dr Andorka discusses recent general. theories on economic and sociological factors of fertility in advanced societies.
As well as examining material from western Europe and North America, Dr Andorka presents eastern European research previously unknown to western scholars because of language difficulties. Some valuable new perspectives on the field of study emerge, which will be of importance to all demographers, sociologists and others to whom fertility is in the centre of interest.