The fertility pattern among non-Estonians in Estonia follows the trends in St. Petersburg

Katja Kesseli, University of Helsinki
Mika Gissler, National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health (STAKES)

Total fertility rate declined rapidly in Russia and Estonia from the late 1980s till the mid 1990s. Reasons for that are postponing of childbearing and reducing quantum of fertility. In this study we review the fertility structure of St. Petersburg and Estonia from 1988 to 2000. Fertility in Estonia is studied by two different subgroups: (1) native and (2) foreign born population. Fertility structures were investigated using age- and parity-specific fertility rates. Data for St. Petersburg came from Demographic yearbooks of St. Petersburg. Estonian birth data was from vital statistics, and the population structure was calculated by the Estonian Interuniversity Population Research Centre. Fertility declined in all age groups in all three groups. Fertility started to increase in between age 25-39 in St. Petersburg and Estonia among the foreign born population in 1993, but among native population in Estonia five years later. For all three study groups, the highest fertility is the first parity at age 20-24, and the differences between groups diminishes after the early 1990s.The current fertility increase is due to an increase in first and second parity fertility among 25-34 years old women. The main difference between the three groups is the third parity fertility, which is higher among native Estonians than in St. Petersburg or among the foreign born population in Estonia. However, its effect to the total fertility is minor.