The decline of fertility in Scotland compared with England

Patrick Carroll

The paper considers factors that might explain the decline in fertility observed in Scotland which is greater than in England. Socio-economic factors such as Employment and Housing are assessed with other more cultural factors. There are also external influences such as Migration with new Ethnic Groups. The 2001 UK Census is used with data from other sources. The paper attempts to make a start in assessing the relative importance of these factors in a changing society that is now less patriarchal and men are no longer heads of households and often not the main providers or breadwinners.