What about Men? Male Fertility in Spain

Abstract

Declining fertility in Spain has been one of the demographic phenomena which, owing to its speed, intensity, and relevance, has received most attention in recent years. Fertility fell from 2.8 children per woman in 1976 to 1.1 in 1998. Nevertheless, fertility studies have focused on the female aspect without comment on what was happening with the male dimension because it was thought to be irrelevant. In this number of Perspectives Demogràfiques, produced by the Centre for Demographic Studies (CED) at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), we introduce men into fertility analysis using both the male Total Fertility Rate (TFR) and classification of first-time fathers. The results lead us to conclude first, that male and female fertility in the twenty-first century shows greater decline among males, although the evolution is comparable; second, that the reason for the difference may be found in an imbalance between the sexes where, at reproductive ages, men outnumber women; and, third, that among men, it is not the level of education that determines the differences in fertility but access to the labour market.