This book aims to explore two crucial questions concerning the different patterns of fertility rates and women's participation rates in Europe: Why are fertility and participation so different across countries? Why have fertility rates continued to decline in Southern Europe (where women's participation rates are very low) but have grown in Nordic Europe (where participation rates are relatively high)? The decline of fertility has important implications: low fertility reduces the potential sustainability of the pension system, and implies lower growth as well as lower savings. An understanding of the relationship between participation and fertility is therefore relevant in ways which go beyond theoretical speculations.

In fact, the recent pattern of fertility and its relationship with women's participation rates are increasingly becoming an object of interest for economists, demographers and policy-makers. Data from the last decade indicate important differences in the relationship between employment rates of women and fertility in different countries. Although the rising long-term trend in the female participation rate is similar for most countries, persistent differences in women's levels as well as in career perspectives suggest that different countries are constrained by country-specific institutional and social factors.

The comparison of relevant institutional characteristics can help to interpret these differences. In Nordic European countries and in some Continental European countries, governments have developed policies with the objective of simultaneously encouraging both fertility and the participation of women in the labour force.