49. Fruktbarhet blant norske kvinner: Resultater fra ... - SSB

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her reproductive period. Among women born 1933 - 1947, more than 50 per
cent of those women with an education of maximum 9 years have had their
first birth before the age of 21. With an education of 10-12 years, it
goes another 2 years before 50 per cent have had their first child, and
women with more than 12 years education have a median age at first birth
of more than 26 years. The differences between the educational groups
appear to have remained stable, or, possibly, to have increased somewhat
over time.
Among all women who have given birth, 86 per cent were married at
the time of their first live birth.
To be unmarried at the time of the first birth is most common for
those who have their first birth at an early age. Among those having
their first birth as teenagers, three out of ten were not married at the
time of birth, and 15 per cent of those starting their reproductive period
between 20 and 22 years, had their first birth out of wedlock. Among women
having their first child at the age of 23 or later, 6-7 per cent were
not married.
In accordance with conclusions based on population statistics, we
found that an increasing part of the births take place out of wedlock.
The Fertility Survey makes it possible to distinguish between birth in and
out of cohabitation (marriage or cohabitation without marriage). Up to
and including the period 1968 - 1972, the births in cohabitation without
marriage constituted only a minor part of all first births taking place
outside marriage. In the period 1973 - 1977 this proportion was higher,
but the increase in extramarital fertility cannevertheless only to a small
extent be attributed to an increase in births in cohabitations without
marriage.
If we consider only those with first birth within marriage, we
find that the births have taken place fairly soon after the wedding. Half
of these births took place within the first 7 months of the marriage, and
more than 3/4 of them within the first 1 1/2 years. The younger the woman
was at the time of the marriage, the earlier in the marriage came the
birth. Among women marrying as teenagers, 73 per cent had the first birth
within 7 months after the wedding. Among women marrying at the age of 25
or later, only 26 per cent had their first child that close to the wedding.
Even women marrying after the birth of their first child, had only a short
time between the birth and the marriage. Thus, most women had to adapt
to the new roles of mother and spouse in the course of a very short period,
irrespective of whether they started their reproductive period before or
after the marriage.