Childbearing of students. The case of Sweden

Sara Thalberg, Stockholm University

The growth in educational attainment is one of the most fundamental social changes in contemporary Europe. Both the number of students and years spent in higher education has increased substantially. Even though many students are in “childbearing ages”, students have lower fertility than others. In this study we investigate the possible effects on student fertility of various changes in the support for students that occurred in Sweden during the 1980s and 1990s. Another aim is to examine the impact of the recession in the mid-1990s on student fertility. In addition, we consider the modifying effects of student’s age, earnings and partner characteristics. We find that the impact of being student on fertility is very stable across time, the effects of policy changes and the business cycle are very weak. Our study is based on event-history analyses of register data on the individual study activity and childbearing in Sweden.