THE majority of women now delay childbirth until they are 30 or above, and smaller families of two or three children are now the norm.
The ESRI study shows that holding off on starting a family has become prevalent in recent years. Using data from 2006, the report indicates half of women who are childless at 29 have a child by 35 years, after which the likelihood of having a first child decreases very rapidly.
Among 45-year-old women in 2006, the proportion having four or more children was less than half of what it was among 59-year olds, while childlessness among 45-year-old women was higher at 17% compared to 13% among 59-year olds.
There does appear to be a strong link between the desire to have children and marriage as the preferred form of relationship for doing so.
However, a significant proportion of women continue to cohabit after having children, lending weight to the view that some couples prioritise having a first child above getting married, and an increasing number shun marriage altogether, whether they have children or not.
Regarding marriage breakdown, it is considerably more common among married couples with one child than married couples with two or no children.
According to the report, this could be down to a first child placing strain on a relationship, which if overcome can lead to more children. Also, the more children in a marriage, the less likelihood of divorce.
The delay in childbearing also seems to be linked to higher educational achievement. Data contained in the report suggests women with third-level qualifications appear to leave childbearing until later and then attempt "a rapid catch-up". To illustrate the point, the report extrapolates that one-in-seven graduate women had a child in the two years following their 30th birthday.
Among ethnic minorities, those of black ethnicity are more likely to have had their first child by 30, while overall, fertility rates in Dublin are lower than those for the rest of the country.
a d v e r t i s e m e n t
This appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Tuesday, February 23, 2010
