European women are still waiting longer to have children, but they’re having them at the same rate that they did a generation ago. In short, the initial period in the 1970s and 1980s when women waited to have children left a data set that might be more of a hiccup than a permanent population change.
The briefing is quick to knock down the theory that immigration is the primary driver of Europe’s recovering fertility rates.
If we look at age-specific trends, we can see that the fertility decline at younger maternal ages has stabilized, while at later ages, fertility is increasing. Couples are having about the same number of children as couples 30 years ago, but at a later age.
From Freakonomics » Don’t Call it a Comeback: Euro-Babies on the Rise
Another western culture is doomed myth that should be seen as disproved which will likely become a zombie myth that plods on without evidence,
