Deliberate Birth Spacing in Pre-transitional Sweden

• Main Author: Kolk, Martin
• Format: Bachelor Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Stockholms universitet, Sociologiska institutionen 2009
• Subjects: Social Sciences; Samhällsvetenskap; Northern Sweden
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-60272

Fertility in 19th century Europe has traditionally been described as high, unregulated andstable for the most of the century followed by a surprisingly geographically uniform decline inthe last decades. This thesis will give an example of a partly conflicting pattern from 19thcentury Northern Sweden, a remote part but at the time economically dynamic frontier region,using micro level data from parish records. The area was characterized by very high fertilityand experienced rising and not falling fertility in the second half of the century. Most previousresearch in historical demography has focus on parity specific forms of fertility control. Thisthesis will instead focus on circumstances that affect birth spacing and motivate parents toaim for shorter or longer birth intervals in pre-transitional Europe. Using event historytechniques there is evidence of parents controlling the timing of their next child to a higherdegree than what has usually been assumed, responding both consciously and quickly when itwas advantageous for the parents.