Fertility in Providence, Rhode Island, 1856-1929

Study of urban differential fertility is best afforded by the birth registration records of Providence, Rhode Island, where birth statistics have been accumulated with greater completeness and for a longer period than elsewhere in the United States. "Special birth-rates" for each immigrant group reveal that: maternity frequency has ultil recently always been greater among the various foreign-born than among the native-born women; it has been higher among the new than among the old immigrant stocks; usually, although not always, declining rate of immigration of a group is followed by decline in maternity frequency; fertility of the native and various immigrant groups has declined. Greater fertility among foreign born is attributable to differences in age and marital composition and to greater control over fertility by natives. Decline in family size since the Civil War may in part be explained for foreign, but not for native, families by change in age composition. Since 1920 the foreign average has been declining more rapidly than the native, and the spread between the two is narrowing. Fertility among native and foreign groups in Providence is comparable with that observed elsewhere. There are few data on net fertility. Among immigrants a high infant death-rate some-what offsets the high birth-rate. In 1920 there were, among natives, 35 per cent less children than replacement needs

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