The Influence of the Economic Activity of Women upon their Fertility in Poland

Various source materials have bean used for this study: results of birth registers and of population censuses elaborated by the Statistical Central Office, about 1950/51 and 1960/61, fertility surveys carried out between 1970 - 1972 by the same institution and fertility survey among 40 000 married women carried out by the Demographic Centre at the Poznań Academy of Economics about 1970. As a rule the families of economically active women have had less children than those of the economically non-active women. At least the birth interval between marriage and the first live birth and the two following intervals between the live births have been longer in the case of economically active women than in the case of the economically non-active ones. Those relationships between economic activity, fertility and duration of birth intervals have been modified by source of living, social position, education level, place of residence of the women and in the case of individual farmers also by the size of farm. Economically active married women, for instance, who have lived in the individual farmes, they bore more children (than the economically non-active ones. Women living from private farms have had the bigest families; the same or slightly smaller families have been observed in the socialized agriculture and forestry; much smaller in industry, construction, commerce and transport and the smallest families have had those who have lived from non-productive services.Digitalizacja i deponowanie archiwalnych zeszytów RPEiS sfinansowane przez MNiSW w ramach realizacji umowy nr 541/P-DUN/201