Le differenze nel ritardo alla maternita nei Paesi Europei [Motherhood Postponement in Europe]

Abstract

Motherhood postponement and fertility decline have been observed in almost all developed countries. In this paper, we aim to assess some of the potential determinants of first childbirth timing in Europe, in a comparative perspective, using data from the ECHP.

We estimate, separately by country, hazard rates for the timing at first childbirth conditioning to education and work characteristics. Moreover, in order to explain differences between European countries, we decompose the differences between rates in the part due to the national population composition by specific characteristics and the part due to different propensities for women with given characteristics.