How the educational fertility differentials vary by gender and country context are of great interest but systematic comparisons are few. This study compares ultimate fertility (Cohort Total Fertility, CTFR and childlessness) by gender and educational attainment for cohorts born in 1940–1967/1972 in four Nordic countries: Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. We use harmonised longitudinal individual-level data drawn from population registers.

The development of overall CTFR is similar in all countries with stability in ultimate fertility. Previous increases in childlessness have levelled out, except for Finland. Educational CTF differentials vary by gender but are narrow; they are stable or increasing for men, while for women we find convergences. Men’s childlessness shows striking educational differences with highest levels for the lowest educated. In women’s childlessness, the educational gradient has turned from positive to negative in all Nordic countries.

This study adds to the evidence of increasing gender equality in patterns in childbearing in the Nordic countries. The educational differentials of women have increasingly become similar to those of men. In contrast, we find clear evidence of widening social inequalities in family formation. The diminishing and increasingly marginalized group of the lowest educated apparently faces difficulties in entering parenthood.