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COMPLETED FERTILITY DURING THE TWENTIETH CENTURY: AN EXAMPLE FROM SIX SETTLEMENTS IN NORTHERN GREECE

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 February 2018

Konstantinos N. Zafeiris  and
Stamatina Kaklamani
Konstantinos N. Zafeiris*
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Physical Anthropology, Department of History and Ethnology, Democritus University of Thrace, Greece
Stamatina Kaklamani
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy and Social Studies, University of Crete, Rethymnon, Crete, Greece
*
1Corresponding author. Email: kzafiris@he.duth.gr
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Summary

This study aimed to delineate temporal trends and differentials of completed fertility and their relationship with some characteristics of the marriage system in specific anthropological populations of northern Greece. The analysis was based on the life history of quinquennial and decennial birth cohorts of married women born in the 20th century who reproduced solely within the settlements studied. The variables studied were: children ever born, mean age of mother at first marriage, mean age of mother at first child (live birth), mean age of mother at last child and reproductive span. The results indicated that there were significant differences in the demographic characteristics of marriage and that there was an ongoing fertility transition in the 20th century in the populations studied. The mechanism of fertility decline was connected with the gradual reduction of the mean age of the mother at last child, the parallel decrease in the mean age at childbearing and a shortening of the reproductive span. Fertility levels at all times maintained a dynamic character imposed by local cultural, economic and social structures, which, in turn, were part of broader national and international structures, in all the populations studied. A strong trend of convergence of fertility levels was observed among the populations studied.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 51 , Issue 1 , January 2019 , pp. 118 - 137
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press, 2018 

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