The mean age at birth continues to increase in low fertility countries. In Australia, in 1991 less than a quarter of women having their first child were over the age of 30, but this had recently risen to more than 60 percent. As family formation keeps being delayed, the ability of couples to fulfill their reproductive plans at later ages becomes ever more important to maintain stable fertility levels and for individuals’ wellbeing. Assisted reproduction represents a potentially relevant factor affecting the recuperation of births later in life as it can partly compensate for the decline in reproductive capacity with age. In this Phd final seminar, I will present the ways in which assisted reproduction affects fertility recovery in the context of delayed childbearing in Australia. In doing so, I will discuss the causes associated with delayed childbearing and permanent childlessness, the contribution of assisted reproduction to fertility levels and the potential barriers in place to its utilization. The presentation will provide an overview of the key findings and contributions from my thesis, which uses a combination of census, surveys, clinical registries, and repositories for healthcare claims data.

Ester Lazzari is a PhD candidate in the School of Demography. Her current research focuses on the causes and consequences of late fertility and childlessness, assisted reproduction and infertility. Her thesis employs a range of demographic methods, from survival analysis with panel data, to decomposition analyses and cohort fertility projections. Ester holds Master of Economics and Social Sciences from Bocconi University.

The next School of Demography seminar wil be held on 1 June.