Fertility patterns in European Union

Fertility patterns in European Union Abstract The main objective of the thesis is to create a typology of fertility in the countries of European Union. The variables entering the analysis are demographic indicators of fertility (total fertility rate, mean age of women at first birth) and opinion poll Eurobarometer 75.4 (ideal number of children, sociodemographic variables). Fertility is analyzed from 1960 until 2014. The main part of the thesis focuses on 2011, when census and opinion poll were conducted. Deeper analysis is performed by using cluster analysis and Poisson regression. The result of the thesis is the typology of fertility based on theories explaining fertility changes and empirical analysis. Keywords: fertility, typology, European Union, ideal number of children, cluster analysis, Poisson regressio