Fertility postponement is largely due to rising educational enrolment

Figures & data

Table 1  Person years at risk at ages 13–39. Britain and France 1980–84 to 1995–99

	Period
	1980–84	1985–89	1990–94	1995–99
Britain	104,039	112,958	112,042	110,963
France	467,043	486,814	475,183	354,083
Source: Centre for Population Change GHS time-series data-file and Family History Survey associated with the French census of 1999.

Figure 1  Age-specific first-birth rates by period (standardized to sum to 1.0 in each period). Britain and France 1980–84 to 1995–99

Source: As for Table 1.

Table 2  Period mean age at first birth (life table calculation). Exposure and births at ages 13–39. Britain and France 1980–84 to 1995–99

	Period
	1980–84	1985–89	1990–94	1995–99	Change 1980–84 to 1995–99
Britain	25.5	25.6	26.4	26.9	1.4
France	25.1	26.1	26.7	27.5	2.4
Source: As for Table 1.

Figure 2  Proportion of women enrolled in education and training by age. Britain and France 1980–84 to 1995–99

Source: As for Table 1.

Table 3  Distribution of age at finishing education among women leaving education at ages 13–39 in each period. Britain and France 1980–84 to 1995–99

		Period
		1980–84	1985–89	1990–94	1995–99
	Age at finishing education	%	%	%	%
Britain	13–17	65	58	42	37
	18–20	21	24	30	25
	21 +	14	19	28	38
France	13–18	54	41	25	17
	19–21	30	35	39	36
	22 +	16	24	36	47
Source: As for Table 1.

Figure 3  First-birth rates by duration since the completion of education, 1980–84 to 1995–99. Women aged 13–39 in each period, who have completed their education. Britain and France 1980–84 to 1995–99

Note: First-birth rates at durations < 0, while in education, are very low and are not shown here.

Source: As for Table 1.

Table 4  Mean duration from end of education to first birth (period life table calculation). Women aged 13–39 in each period who had completed their education. Britain and France 1980–84 to 1995–99

	Period
	1980–84	1985–89	1990–94	1995–99	Change 1980–84 to 1995–99
Britain	7.8	7.8	8.2	8.4	0.6
France	5.8	6.1	6.1	6.2	0.5
Source: As for Table 1.

Figure 4  Mean duration from end of education to first birth (period life table calculation) by age at finishing education. Women aged 13–39 in each period who had completed their education. Britain and France 1980–84 to 1995–99

Source: As for Table 1.

Table 5  Mean duration from end of education to first birth, by age at finishing education (period life table calculation). Women finishing their continuous education at ages 13–39. Britain and France, 1980–84 to 1995–99

		Period
		1980–84	1985–89	1990–94	1995–99	Change 1980–84 to 1995–99
	Age at finishing education
Britain	13–17	7.8	7.6	7.7	7.6	−0.3
	18–20	7.9	8.1	8.8	8.8	0.8
	21 +	7.0	7.6	8.1	8.6	1.6
France	13–18	6.5	7.0	6.8	7.1	0.6
	19–21	6.2	6.7	6.6	6.8	0.6
	22 +	5.1	5.7	6.2	6.4	1.2
Note: The figures within each group reflect the timing of birth relative to the age at completing education, and therefore within-group change in time to first birth is not attributable to within-group change over time in terminal education age.
Source: As Table 1.

Figure 5  Ratio of proportion of women of each age who were not in education in Britain to the equivalent in France, by period. Women aged 16–29. Britain and France 1980–84 to 1995–99

Source: As for Table 1.