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

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among others) have a long history in fertility surveys, but the same applies
to the criticism of this type of questions. This is the reason why,
in addition to presenting some main results of this part of the survey,
we have included two paragraphs about the limitations of this type of data.
All respondents were asked what they considered to be an ideal
number of children for a family in Norway. The average ideal number of
children was 2.57. Teenagers and women between 35 and 44 years of age
had somewhat higher average figures than women between 20 and 34 years.
There was a marked concentration on the numbers two or three as the ideal
number of children. Practically nobody considered childlessness or only
one child as ideal. In explaining the recent fertility decline, some writers
have postulated an increasing prevalence of childless or one-child families.
In chapter 5 we have demonstrated that trends in actual number of
children do not support such a hypothesis. When we consider the measures
for preferred number of children we came to the same conclusion.
In the absence of completed fertility histories, we have asked the
women about how many children they expect to get altogether. The older
women (35-44 years) had at the time of the interview had practically all
the children (99 per cent) they expect to have. Obviously the least valuable
estimates on the total expected number of children are those made by
women 18 and 19 years old. At the time of the interview, they have realized
only 5 per cent of their total expected number of children. Even
women in the traditionally most fertile period (20-29 years) expected still
to have a great part of their births in the future.
Total expected number of children shows a clear concentration
around 2 and 3 children, but the concentration is not as pronounced as it
is for ideal number of children. Only to a small extent, do women expect
to be childless or one-child mothers.
To have 2 or 3 children seems to be well in accordance with general
norms in the society. One can hardly expect to find very explicite motives
for following this norms. Nevertheless, we approached the problem in
two rather different ways. First, we asked all women not expecting (additional)
children, to state the reasons for this. Secondly, we asked all women
in the sample to rank 5 general statements for having children and 5 general
statements against having children.
When women were asked why they did not expect to have children in
the future, most of them answered that they were satisfied with the number
of children they already had. Own age, health problems and lack of surplus
energy to look after (additional) children were also mentioned. Wishes to