How does education affect childbearing in Britain?

New work by CPC members investigates the influence of women's education on the timing and number of children they have, and how these relationships have changed over time. The findings show that the average age of entry into motherhood has increased for all groups. However, the change has been most pronounced for those with advanced ('A' level) or Degree qualifications.

The research also finds that educational differences in completed family size have widened over time. Whilst patterns have remained fairly stable for those with the lowest levels of education, those with a degree have become more likely to have fewer children over their lifetime. This is partly due to increased rates of childlessness among graduates, and also an increase in graduates postponing their births to later ages and then not 'catching up' their childbearing - despite evidence suggesting that they desire further children. These findings differ from studies of Nordic countries, which show women who start their families later 'catch up' and go on to have similar numbers of children to women who became mothers at younger ages.

Professor Ann Berrington notes that "since there are generally small educational differential in intended fertility in the UK, the large educational differences in childlessness and completed family size suggest that, for these cohorts at least, barriers to combining motherhood and careers remained for more educated women".

The team, therefore, recommends that 'policies are needed that address barriers to childbearing for such women.'
Further information on the work by Ann Berrington and Juliet Stone, along with Eva Beaujouan, can be found in our Briefing Paper.

The full paper is available online on the Demographic Research website.

Posted 21/10/2015 12:23