Partnership pathways associated with lifetime childlessness in Belgium and Finland

Abstract

<p>In recent decades, many European countries have witnessed both a rise in ultimate childlessness and<br>increasing diversity in partnership trajectories. This paper investigates patterns of partnership trajectories<br>associated with childlessness in Belgium and Finland from a life-course perspective. Using sequence<br>and cluster analysis on register data, we examine the partnership histories of Belgian (N=19,590) and<br>Finnish (N=13,368) men and women born in 1975, following them from age 18 to 45. We identified five<br>typical partnership clusters among the Belgian childless and four among the Finnish. Three clusters—<br>Never Partnered, Partnership Instability, and Marriage—are common to both countries. Most childless<br>individuals in both countries remain unpartnered or face partnership instability. A turbulence index was<br>then computed to assess the difference of turbulence of the sequences between the two countries. This paper<br>contributes to the literature on childlessness by examining the heterogeneity of partnership biographies<br>and cross-country differences using high-quality administrative data.</p>