Diverging patterns of reproductive behavior within countries across the globe

Introduction

Sweeping transformations in reproductive behavior are taking place worldwide. The DIVREP project investigates an unanticipated, yet critical dimension of these changes: increasing within-country disparities in childbearing age and fertility levels, identified primarily in nations with high levels of socioeconomic inequality. Such divergences and growing heterogeneity in reproductive behavior are vital aspects of social stratification that remain poorly understood and have never been scrutinized from a global perspective.

Project Overview

DIVREP goes beyond the state of the art by being the first comprehensive global study of the patterns, trends, and determinants of within-country heterogeneity in two key aspects of reproduction: the age at first birth and fertility levels.

Methodology

Through the novel application of powerful—yet neglected in research on reproductive behavior—measures of distributional variation and by leveraging data from over 120 nations, DIVREP will make innovative contributions to our understanding of global fertility change. DIVREP will:

1. Assemble microdata on the age at first birth and fertility levels for all countries with available information and estimate novel indicators of heterogeneity in reproduction, comparable across time and space.
2. Develop theories of fertility change by investigating global patterns and long-term trends in these indicators to uncover where and under what conditions reproductive trajectories diverge within countries.
3. Uncover the role of individual-level socioeconomic factors in driving divergences in reproduction by performing decomposition analyses.
4. Empirically study, for the first time, the links between macro-level factors related to socioeconomic inequality and reproductive divergences.

Conclusion

Thanks to its pioneering scope, depth, and application of methods, DIVREP will develop a global framework to theorize about the future of population change amidst a paramount societal challenge of our times: growing socioeconomic inequality.