After second demographic transition, substantial regional variation in fertility levels has continued to exist within contemporary European low-fertility societies. A large part of this variability is explainable in terms of individual preferences, socio-economic and cultural conditions and in terms of the direct or indirect policy measures aimed at sustaining the families and their childbearing. Little is still known, instead, about the mechanisms that link the characteristics of the proximate context where the family lives as far as the social climate, the amount and quality of the territorial services and the interpersonal relationships to childbearing decisions. Namely, a number of studies exist on the role of the social capital and neighborhood context on fertility, but they are limited in definitions – only interpersonal supports or local socio-economic contexts have been separately considered - and in territorial perspective.

In this paper, we evaluate the relationship between social capital and reproductive behavior in the European countries. We build a composite indicator which combines the three main features of social capital – social behaviors, social relationship and territorial context – and analyze its impact on the logit of having one (more) child among women in reproductive age and currently in union. We then discuss the results in terms of different Welfare State regimes.

Data come from the 2014 EU-SILC Survey. Our selected sample consists of more than 15,000 women.