FERTILITY OF SOCIAL CLASSES 



331 



It has been calculated that the relation of age to the degree of 

 fertility is as follows : ^ 



Marriage Age of the Man, 



Less than 25 years 

 25-29 years 

 30-34 „ 

 35-44 „ 

 45-50 „ 



Number of Children per 

 Married Couple. 



3-50 

 3-25 

 3-02 



2-28 

 1-10 



Thus we see that the earUer 

 children he is likely to have. 



in life a man marries, the more 

 The upper social classes, marry- 

 ing later in hfe than the lower, produce a lower average of 

 descendants. The following was the average age of married 

 persons in Italy in 1896, calculated according to the professions t^ 



1 M. Rubin and H. Westergaard, Statistih der Ehen auf Grand der soziolen 

 Oliederung der Bevollcerung, p. 95. Jena, 1890. 



2 E. Raseri, Sur les Variations du Taux de Natalite et sur I'Age moyen 

 des Epoux, suivant les Conditions economiques, in Bulletin de VInstitvt Inter, 

 national de Statistique, tome xi.. Premiere Livraison, p. 157. St. Petersburg^ 

 1899. 



