Shifting childbearing to later reproductive ages is reflected in all European populations. Late motherhood also changes, from the point of view of parity structure, since nowadays, the beginning of reproductive pathways is increasingly realised at the age of 35 and over more often. The regional dimension of this phenomenon is significantly overlooked, however. The main aim of this paper is to explore how the level and the impact of late motherhood has changed from a spatial perspective. We use Slovakia as a case study population characterised until the end of the 1980s by an early beginning of reproduction and its concentration in the first half of the reproductive period, and by relatively significant socio-economic, cultural and demographic differences. At the same time, we point out the changes in late motherhood in terms of parity structure. Finally, through linear regression models, we try to identify which of the selected factors may condition the differences in share of late fertility and the significance of first births at advanced reproductive ages.

Katedra ekonomickej a sociálnej geografie, demografie a územného rozvoja, PRIF UK, Bratislava Late Fertility in Slovakia. Postponement of childbearing and age pluralization of reproduction are the main features of the transformational changes in the fertility process in Slovakia in the last three decades. The advanced reproductive age is increasingly used for the realization of reproductive intentions and, therefore, this paper evaluates long-term trends in fertility at age 35 and over and its significance for overall fertility within the context of changes that took place after 1989. The results confirm an increase in the level of and in the contribution of late fertility to the overall reproduction in Slovakia. However, this trend has stagnated in recent years and the level and contribution of late motherhood to oveall fertility lags significantly behind the situation observed in the interwar period. Futher, the paritystructure of late childbearing has transformed. We find that the contribution of second and higher parity births has been reduced in favour of first births. With respect to non-maital childbearing, we find that it is below average in the advanced reproductive ages, in spite of rapid increase of overall share of non-marital births in the past 30 years. We use differential analysis of the late fertility to investigate trends in population subgroups. The intensity of late childbearing has increased regardless of marital status, educational attainment, ethnicity or place of residence of the mother. At the same time, however, there was a certain divergence between the observed groups of women. Late motherhood is thus associated primarily with never-married and married women, with those having lowest and highest educational attanments, of Slovak ethnicity and with those permanently resident in the urban environment, particularly in the largest cities and, consequently, in the Bratislava region.