Abstract
Birth intervals are known to influence child and parental health and wellbeing, yet studies on the recent development of birth intervals in contemporary developed societies are scarce. We used individual-level representative register data from Finland (N=26,120; 54% women) to study the first interbirth interval of singleton births in cohorts born in 1955, 1960, 1965, 1970, and 1975. In women, the average interbirth interval has shortened by 7.8 months and in men by 6.2 months between the cohorts of 1955 and 1975. A higher age at first birth was associated with shorter birth intervals (in women, b = -1.68, p<.001; in men, b = -1.77, p<.001 months per year). Educational level moderated the effect of age at first on the first birth interval in both sexes. Due to rising ages at first birth in developed societies and the manifold ramifications of shorter birth intervals, this topic deserves more scholarly attention and studies from other countries.
Highlights
The species-typical spacing of births in humans is, based on data from hunter-gatherer societies, around three years (Galdikas and Wood 1990; Kramer 2005)
Age at first birth was controlled for and had a negative effect on the interbirth interval (b = -1.68; 95% CI -1.79, -1.57; p
Given the manifold ramifications of birth intervals with potential costs to the health care system and population health more generally, there is a surprising lack of data on average interbirth intervals and their recent development in European populations
Summary
The species-typical spacing of births in humans is, based on data from hunter-gatherer societies, around three years (Galdikas and Wood 1990; Kramer 2005). Western societies have witnessed several changes in the last decades potentially affecting birth intervals – for example the rising age at first birth, higher levels of average education, and the increased labour force participation of women, including mothers of small children (e.g. Billari, Liefbroer, and Philipov 2007).
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