Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 September 2011
This paper discusses some of the things that demographers know about fertility at later ages of reproduction in developed countries. The nature of the information available through, for example, vital statistics is often a product of history and of administrative requirements, rather than the result of a well-based scheme. Surveys are frequently used to fill the gaps in major sources, but no survey appears to have been carried out specifically on the topic under discussion here. The available information will be discussed under four broad headings: (1) the levels and the trends of late fertility, as compared with fertility at younger ages; (2) the specific characteristics of mothers giving birth at later ages; (3) the specific characteristics of the corresponding births, and the risks for pregnancies at older ages; (4) the question of whether these births are less wanted than others.