Educational and regional differentials in higher order fertility: family formation among Belgian women and their partners

Cohort trends in Belgian fertility show that higher educated women have consistently realised the more frequent progression to second and third births. Using a prospective study, based on longitudinal microdata from the 1991 and 2001 Belgian censuses, this paper investigates the mechanisms behind the positive gradient and explores (i) the correlation with household positions and activity status among Belgian women and their partners; and (ii) the variation in second and third birth hazards between Belgium’s main administrational units. Our results suggest that higher educated women have reduced the opportunity costs of parity progression after the first child by having access to stable employment, homogamy to highly educated partners and more frequent uptake of (in)formal child care. For lower educated women, parity progression more often entails a further weakening of their position on the labour market. Homogamy to less educated partners as well as higher unemployment risks of these partners further reduces second and third birth hazards. Finally, regional variation in second birth hazards is largely explained by regional differences in education, household positions and activity status. For third births, regional differences remain evident and women living in Brussels and Wallonia keep realising the highest birth hazards.