Assessing spatial variation and heterogeneity of fertility in Greece at local authority level

In the absence of spatial fertility analysis for Greece this paper aims at assessing spatial variations and underlying relationships between fertility and selected socio-demographic indicators at local authority level. The analysis is based on the 2001 census data for the 325 local authorities of the country. The results reveal the presence of significant spatial autocorrelation and the existence of spatial heterogeneity of structural interrelationship between fertility and predictors. The application of local models out-performs the standard OLS approach. However, the relationship between socioeconomic indicators and fertility is not always clear and further investigation is needed.