Higher education and fertility decline in Greece among women born between 1950 and 1970: a cohort approach

Christos Bagavos, Panteion University
Georgia Verropoulou, University of the Aegean

This paper aims at exploring the relationship between increasing educational level of women in Greece and declining fertility in the recent past. The impact of education on fertility patterns is analysed using data from the 2001 population census on the numbrers of children ever born by the highest educational qualification attained by their mother, by the mother’s year of birth, for women born between 1950 and 1970. As far as educational attainement is concerned we are mostly interested in women with at least a higher educational qualification. The analyses focus both on the changing tempo and quantum of fertility, and particularly timing of first births. We observe changes in fertility patterns for different cohorts of women with a certain level of education, as well as changes for women belonging to a certain cohort for different educational levels.