How was the fertility transition carried out? Analysis of fertility control strategies and their evolution in rural Aragon, Spain (1880-1955)

Abstract

The aim of this article is to analyse the fertility control strategies employed by families during the fertility transition and to understand their evolution over time. To achieve that goal, this study identified the use and popularization of stopping and spacing. This analysis employed data on the inhabitants of 10 rural villages in the Huerva River valley in north-eastern Spain. The results revealed that in the first stages of the fertility transition, the same fertility control strategies used in the pre-transitional period were employed. However, stopping quickly became the most common strategy. Although women exercised some type of control over fertility at some point in their lives from the beginning of the fertility transition, it was not until the late 1920s that women who were controlling outnumbered those who were not (on 1 July of each year).