Birth Spacing in the Netherlands. The Effects of Family Composition, Occupation and Religion on Birth Intervals, 1820–1885

摘要

In this article, Dutch family reconstructions from the period 1820–1885 are analyst. Cox regression on birth intervals discloses that couples deliberately increased birth intervals already before the onset of the fertility transition. Spacing was not related to a targeted family size or to the sex composition of the family. Rather, the (temporary) burden of young, dependent children induced the parents to delay the next conception. Catholics and orthodox Protestants had shorter birth intervals than liberal Protestants, either because they rejected breastfeeding or because they were reluctant to experiment with birth spacing. Relatively long birth intervals were prevalent in the lowest social groups, whereas farmers and the self-employed middle class tended towards short intervals.