Fertility of women in the NLSY79

This article uses data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79)—a survey of people born between 1957 and 1964—to examine the fertility patterns of women up to age 46. Women in the NLSY79 cohort have two children, on average, and more than 80 percent of them give birth to at least one child by age 46. The bulk of first births occur before age 30. Fertility patterns differ markedly by education. Women with a college degree are more than twice as likely as those who never attended college to have no children, with this pattern being stronger among Black and Hispanic women. Fertility is delayed as education increases. Patterns of fertility related to labor market experience are evident, but they are weaker than those related to educational attainment.