The regulation of fertility in pre-industrial populations: a local study from eighteenth century Finland

Authors

• Beatrice Moring

DOI: https://doi.org/10.23979/fypr.44911

Keywords:

fertility, birth spacing, family planning, socioeconomic status, coastal population

Abstract

The crude birth rate in Finland in the eighteenth century was more than 40 per thousand. At the same time there was considerable regional diversity. This study of a coastal population in southwestern Finland reveals that the fertility was well below that of the country as a whole and as low or even lower that that recorded for neighboring countries. A more detailed study of families in Houtskiir indicates that the pattern of fertility varied according to the socioeconomic standing of the family head. Differences in age at first marriage were a critical determinant of these variations but other important factors were birth spacing and the timing  of the last birth. A conscious attempt was made to limit family size.