Delayed Reproduction: Patterns, Challenges and Prospects

Guest editors:
Éva Beaujouan, Marie-Caroline Compans, Alice Goisis, and Jasmin Passet-Wittig

• Changing reproductive trajectories: Delayed family and fertility trajectories, partnership context of childbearing, experiences of infertility.
• Adapting to the new timing of parenthood: Fertility plans in the context of delayed fertility, intentions and their (non-)realisation at higher reproductive ages.
• Age limits to fertility? Biological limits and constraints to late reproduction, contribution of medically assisted reproduction to late fertility, potential and limits for the future.
• Social inequalities: Socio-economic disparities in late fertility, including access to and use of assisted reproduction – this covers education, religion, attitudes, cultural background…
• Societal consequences: Impact of delayed reproduction on childlessness and family size, changing norms around reproduction and parenthood at later ages.
• Consequences for parents and children: Reproductive health problems at older ages other than infertility, consequences for children born of older parents.
• Policy responses: Evaluation of existing policies, policies needed to address shifts to later reproduction.