[The demographic analysis of human fertility using life history data]

"In this contribution we show how the analysis of data from the German Life History Study sheds light on and extends the official statistics on fertility trends in West Germany. First, the data gathered for the three cohorts 1929-31, 1939-41, and 1949-51, are proved for their representativeness. Then birth rates of the first, second, third, and following order for women and men are presented. At last we discuss results of simple survival analyses of the entry into parenthood for different sociostructural groups of men and women in our cohorts." (SUMMARY IN ENG)