Research conducted on the historical demography of Western Europe contradicts
the classic theory of demographic transition. Contrary to the emphasis on mortality in transition
theory, work by Wrigley, Schofield, Goldstone, and others points to fertility in general, and age at
marriage and the incidence of marriage in particular, as the critical determinants of population
size, structure, and growth in the early modern period. Recent theories link occupational and in
dustrial structures to the historical fertility regime of western Europe, and suggest that changes in
economic structure rather than changes in economic rationality due to modernization dictated fer
tility patterns for this region during this historical era.
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