Child care in America
America is facing a child care crisis: care services are costly and scarce and fail to meet the needs of families. The majority of U.S. voters, Joseph Chamie opines, feel … Read more
Stagnating mortality convergence across European regions in recent years
While mortality is low in Europe, progress is slowing down and regional convergence, once notable, may have come to a halt. Markus Sauerberg, Florian Bonnet, Carlo-Giovanni Camarda, and Pavel Grigoriev … Read more
Infant mortality after an unintended birth
There is a longstanding interest in understanding whether children born following unplanned pregnancy could be at higher risk of negative health outcomes, including early life mortality. Using Demographic and Health … Read more
Family planning and children’s development in urban Malawi (2016-2018)
In Malawi, in a trial carried out between 2016 and 2018, children grew taller and exhibited more rapid cognitive development when their mothers’ access to family planning and reproductive health … Read more
Rising childlessness in Korea: marriage postponement and rising education
Childlessness in Korea is rising due to delayed marriage, increasing singleness and a growing share of childless unions. Misun Lee and Kryštof Zeman show that while more years in education … Read more
Education and the timing of family formation: a quantile regression analysis
Early union formation and motherhood are frequently observed in low- and middle-income countries, where heterogeneity in the timing of family formation is also high. Using Demographic and Health Surveys for … Read more
On the move. The new reality for China’s migrant children
Massive internal migration in China has transformed the landscape of childhood for millions. Analyzing census data from 2000 to 2020, Mengyao Cheng, Yu Chen, Lidan Lyu, and Yu Bai find … Read more
Introducing child benefits in pension systems: rationale, pros and cons
Child benefits are never explicitly included in pension systems, although mothers often receive other forms of compensation, such as provisions for earlier retirement or higher pensions. There are good reasons … Read more
Threshold ages and automatic adjustment mechanisms in PAYGO pension systems
Pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) pension systems are problematic: commitments are meant to be long term, but reality changes rapidly, which forces a frequent revision of rules. Gustavo De Santis suggests an alternative … Read more
Unilateral divorce legislation supported the rise in educational homogamy in the US
The introduction of unilateral divorce legislation in the US in the 1970s and 1980s, which led to spikes in divorce rates, coincided with rising educational assortative matching into marriage. Geghetsik … Read more
A quarter of a century of euthanasia and assisted suicides
Statistics on euthanasia and assisted suicides are rarely available, in part because very few countries have legalized this form of end of life, and usually only in recent or very … Read more
Are migrants healthier than non-migrants? The case of Albanians in Italy
With respect to other members of an origin population, migrants are selected on the basis of certain characteristics. This selection can affect economic prospects and education but also health. Elisa … Read more
Heatwaves and birthweight in Africa
Liliana Andriano shows that heatwave exposure prior to birth causes lower birthweight. Given the implications for life-long health and well-being, the study provides insights for policymakers who are concerned with … Read more
Effects of forest environment construction on physical activity
The Chinese government attaches great importance to the construction of National Forest Cities, which have proved effective not only as part of the national low-carbon environmental strategy, but also as … Read more
The crisis-driven shifts of Venezuelan migration patterns
The Venezuelan exodus stands as the largest displacement in recent Latin American history, with around 22.5% of the population now living abroad. Drawing on data from seven of the main … Read more
Disability-free grandparenthood in Italy: changes between 1998 and 2016
In Italy, grandparents are a fundamental source of care for children, and families are the main source of support for older individuals. Margherita Moretti, Elisa Cisotto and Alessandra De Rose … Read more
Older people’s age reporting: the case of Uganda
The implications of inaccurate age-reporting among older people are rarely investigated. Alice Reid, Allen Kabagenyi, Stephen Wandera, Joshua Beinomugisha and Sarah Walters suggest that age-heaping may have more to do … Read more
Europe’s COVID-19 death toll in 2020 and 2021: stark regional differences
Europe was hard-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. While its effects at national level are now well known, intranational differences have been less frequently investigated. Florian Bonnet, … Read more
A new method for measuring the educational gradient of period fertility in Europe
Angela Greulich and Laurent Toulemon present a new method for measuring the educational gradient of fertility for women who are at childbearing age rather than for women who have already … Read more
Future fears: societal pessimism and fertility choices
Katya Ivanova and Nicoletta Balbo examine the link between societal pessimism and fertility decisions. Using prospective data from the Dutch LISS panel, the authors illustrate that broader concerns about the … Read more
Return migrants: more children than migrants, fewer than nonmigrants
Return migrants’ fertility is likely to differ from that of nonmigrants and migrants due to migration experiences, norms, adaptation, and socioeconomic factors, but knowledge of their fertility behavior is limited. … Read more
Female education and fertility stalls in sub-Saharan Africa
Progress in education has been uneven in sub-Saharan Africa, which may have contributed to slowing or halting fertility decline. Bruno Schoumaker and David A. Sánchez-Páez note that fertility has stalled … Read more
Remittances may redefine the demographic support ratio
When measuring the demographic support ratio, including only the country’s residents may prove insufficient. Lukas Tohoff, Daji Landis, Letizia Mencarini, and Arnstein Aassve develop a novel demographic indicator to account … Read more
The rise of nontraditional rural families in Canada and the USA
What has happened to traditional two-married-parent families in rural America and Canada? Shelley Clark and Matthew Brooks explore changes in rural and urban families over the past three decades to … Read more
Stagnant motherhood work time penalty in Great Britain over 30 years
More and more mothers with young children stay in the labor market today. In the United Kingdom, the share has risen from 62% in 1989 to 72% in 2023. However, … Read more
Drivers of fathers’ parental leave uptake in Belgium
Using longitudinal register data for Belgium, Jonas Wood, Leen Marynissen and Dries Van Gasse find that fathers who earn less than their female partners are more likely to use parental … Read more
Mortality from cardiovascular diseases around the globe
Mortality from cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) is the leading cause of death worldwide, in high, middle and low-income countries. Emerson A. Baptista and Bernardo L. Queiroz investigate whether CVD mortality rates … Read more
Age structure changes and the potential for demographic dividends
The demographic dividend describes the economic growth potential based on shifts towards a larger share of working-age population when fertility declines in the course of the demographic transition. Markus Dörflinger … Read more
Plummeting fertility in Uruguay, 2016-2021
Uruguay’s total fertility rate plummeted from nearly 2 children per woman in 2015 to 1.37 in 2021. As Wanda Cabella, Mariana Fernández Soto, Ignacio Pardo, Gabriela Pedetti note, this unprecedented … Read more
The shifting landscape of family forms around the world
Living arrangements have changed over the past five decades, leading to a decline of the extended family, growth of the nuclear family and, more recently, the appearance of living alone … Read more
Decriminalization of homosexuality since the 18th century
More and more people live in countries that have decriminalized homosexual relations, from 11% of the global population in the late 18th century to 79% in the early 21st century. … Read more
Religion and fertility in Finland
The link between religion and fertility has long interested demographers. While relevant data with the necessary extent and detail are rarely available, Finland, is an exception, as information on religious … Read more
COVID-19 exacerbated inequalities in life expectancy in Denmark
Social inequalities in mortality expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic in Denmark. Cosmo Strozza, Serena Vigezzi, Julia Callaway, and José Manuel Aburto quantified life expectancy changes in 2020 and 2021 and … Read more
Global household trends: converging sizes, divergent structures
Household structures reflect and affect social, economic, and demographic dynamics. Albert Esteve and Maria Pohl use the new CORESIDENCE database to explore the transformation of households over the last five … Read more
Low mortality drives population ageing in the long run
Higher survival, not low fertility, is the main long-term driver of population ageing. Adding some new elements to an old debate among demographers, Gustavo De Santis and Giambattista Salinari illustrate … Read more
Leisure and fertility nexus among first-time mothers in Australia
In Australia, according to Ewa Jarosz, Anna Matysiak and Beata Osiewalska, mothers of one child are more likely to have a second birth if certain conditions are met, and notably … Read more
Self-rated health trends by gender and race in the USA, 1972-2018
Are Americans feeling better or worse since the 1970s and does this pattern vary by gender and race? Jason L. Cummings explores U.S. trends in self-rated health inequalities over the … Read more
Evaluating pronatalist policies with TFR brings misleading conclusions: examples from Hungary
In the prominent political debates about population decline and ageing, short-term changes in the period total fertility rate (TFR) are the main point of reference, even though they can be … Read more
Racial disparities in disability and in long and happy living in America
The racial divide is still profound in the U.S., in terms not only of survival, and survival without disabilities, but also of happiness. Anthony R. Bardo and Jason L. Cummings … Read more
Occupational characteristics and the gender wage gap among parents in Europe
The gender wage gap persists, especially among mothers. Alícia Adserà and Federica Querin show that despite low wages in predominantly male occupations that depend on heavy machinery, women (and chiefly … Read more
Trends in child support agreements in the US, 1993-2018
What are the trends in the prevalence of child support agreements in the US? Apparently declining, based on frequently used stock data, but in fact stable or even on the … Read more
Demographic and occupational change in Europe: gender, education, and age disparities
Over the last decades, the working population in Europe has become older, more feminized, and more educated. However, Álvaro Mariscal‐de‐Gante, Amaia Palencia‐Esteban, Sara Grubanov‐Boskovic and Enrique Fernández‐Macías argue that female occupational … Read more
Frailty at death: A four-country study
Frailty represents a major public health challenge in ageing populations. In this study, Sergi Trias-Llimós, Magali Barbieri, Viviana Egidi, Luisa Frova, Francesco Grippo, France Meslé, Marilena Pappagallo, and Aline Désesquelles … Read more
Can Earth support 4 billion people sustainably and well?
On October 18, 2023, the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (2023) broadcast a Yes-or-No debate on the statement: “The population of humans that can be supported sustainably … Read more
Fertility and nuptiality of Ultra-Orthodox Jews in the United States
Ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities are known to have high fertility, but details are difficult to investigate because questions about religion and fertility are rarely asked together in surveys. Lyman Stone’s ingenious … Read more
Shifting households and their effect on child mortality in sub-Saharan Africa
Households are important units of social, psychological and economic support for children, and variation in the presence of household members at different times can determine child survival. Ashira Menashe-Oren, Yacouba … Read more
Mortality and morbidity drivers of international health inequality
Over the last decades, survival prospects have generally increased worldwide. Using data from the Global Burden of Disease project, Iñaki Permanyer and Octavio Bramajo investigate how mortality and morbidity have … Read more
Sociodemographic disparities in co-impairment in the older U.S. population
The under-investigated issue of co-impairment (cognitive impairment and limitations in basic activities of daily living) is more prevalent than commonly believed. Shubhankar Sharma, Jo Mhairi Hale, Mikko Myrskylä and Hill … Read more
How retirement policies and demographic change influence China’s gender labor force gap
The gender gap in labor force participation is expanding in China, for various reasons, among which scarcity of affordable public childcare and growing discrimination against women in the labor market. … Read more
Joint physical custody of children in Europe: A growing phenomenon
As union dissolution becomes more frequent around the world, the living arrangements of children of separated parents have become an important issue. Joint physical custody (JPC) is believed to be … Read more
Reproductive-age morbidities and their impact on women’s health in sub-Saharan Africa (2010-2019)
Women in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) experience high prevalence rates of anaemia and HIV, resulting in an average of 14.3 years of reproductive-age life expectancy spent in poor health. Audrey M. … Read more
How many relatives do the Swedish have?
Little is known about the composition of kinship groups and family members outside the household, and how this evolves by age and over time. Martin Kolk and colleagues, exploiting exhaustive … Read more
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on life expectancy in the US Hispanic population
In the United States, the Hispanic population was hit harder by the COVID-19 pandemic than the majority (non-Hispanic White) population. Elizabeth Arias and Betzaida Tejada-Vera investigate the matter and highlight … Read more
Early disengagement from education and work: “ninihood” in Latin America
Latin America faces a unique societal challenge: high numbers of young adults, especially women, who neither work nor pursue education, known colloquially as “nini.” Using census microdata for 12 countries, … Read more
How long do older Germans work?
Rapid population aging may undermine the viability of the German pension system. Is working longer a remedy? Christian Dudel, Elke Loichinger, Sebastian Klüsener, Harun Sulak, Mikko Myrskylä analyse what is … Read more
Earnings-related parental leave and continued childbearing in Estonia
The number of countries that aim to raise fertility has markedly increased over recent decades. Among policy instruments used to achieve this goal, parental leave schemes play an important role. … Read more
Should or should not China be afraid of population decline?
China’s population boom is over: demographic aging and decline will characterize its foreseeable future. However, according to Wang Feng, this will not entail a decrease in the standard of living … Read more
How migration affects sex ratios at subnational level
Sex-selective migration leads to imbalances in local proportions of young women and men. In almost all European and American countries, substantially more women than men migrate from rural to urban … Read more
Explaining the demographic expansion of the Ancient Greeks (550-409 BCE) through the lens of the city of Himera (Sicily, Italy)
Between the 9th and 3rd centuries BCE, the Greeks founded more than 500 colonies throughout the Mediterranean basin. According to Norma Lonoce, Gianpiero Dalla-Zuanna, Pier Francesco Fabbri, Stefano Vassallo and … Read more
Fertility differentials in the USA: the interplay of ethnicity and education
Black women in the US have higher fertility than White women, but this difference does not emerge consistently at all educational levels. Emma Zang and Aparajita Kaphle document these education-specific … Read more
Childhood internal migration and the intergenerational transmission of socioeconomic inequalities
Using lifetime data for baby boomers from 15 European countries, Aude Bernard shows that (i) children from higher socioeconomic backgrounds are more likely to migrate and (ii) individuals who migrated … Read more
Gender asymmetries in mixed unions
An increasing number of people in high-income countries marry or cohabit with partners who were born abroad. Using census microdata for Spain and the United States, Albert Esteve, Annika Elwert … Read more
Replacement fertility with immigration in Europe
Recent decreases in fertility rates in European countries have fueled gloom and doom about the prospect of shrinking populations. As Nick Parr shows, the levels of fertility that would sustain … Read more
The role of fertility in the development of educational distribution in Sweden
All over the world, children’s education mirrors that of their parents. This, together with differential fertility, affects the distribution of educational outcomes in the next generation. In Sweden, however, differential … Read more
Socioeconomic inequalities in functional health in Chilean older adults
Old age is frequently marred by ill health. Socioeconomic conditions, too, play their part: the poorest also suffer from worse health conditions in Chile, as Pedro Olivares-Tirado and Rosendo Zanga Pizarro show, … Read more
Suicide risk and immigration background of married couples in Sweden
Is it better to intermarry? Using Swedish registry data, Anna Oksuzyan, Sven Drefahl, Jennifer Caputo, and Siddartha Aradhya investigate whether people married to someone from a different ethnic background (i.e., … Read more
Educational disparities in partnership formation and dissolution in Finland (1990-2019)
As marriage declines and divorce increases, partnership trends and household composition become increasingly determined by trends in the formation and dissolution of non-marital cohabiting unions. Marika Jalovaara and Linus Andersson … Read more
Loneliness and social exclusion among older Europeans before and during the COVID-19 pandemic
Launched in 2009, the Joint Programming Initiative “More Years Better Lives” (JPI-MYBL) brought together several EU and non-EU countries to create a common research framework aiming to better coordinate, harmonize, … Read more
Is Italy about to disappear?
The future of the Italian population depends in large part on migration. Marcantonio Caltabiano and Gianpiero Dalla-Zuanna compare the most recent forecasts of net migration for Italy proposed by Eurostat, … Read more
Is morbidity compressing around the globe?
Does health deterioration manifest at increasingly (dis)similar ages? Iñaki Permanyer, Francisco Villavicencio and Sergi Trias-Llimós explore inequalities in age-at-morbidity onset globally, and find these to be larger than lifespan inequalities. … Read more
Internal migration and the marriage market in China
After quantifying and comparing the intensity of competition in local marriage markets for unmarried (internal) migrants in their hometown and in their destination place, Wanru Xiong finds that in China, … Read more
Who felt lonely during the COVID-19 pandemic among European older adults?
Feelings of loneliness are not very widespread among European older adults (aged 50 years and over) according to SHARE data. And, surprisingly enough, according to the analysis of Omar Paccagnella, … Read more
The fertility effect of medically assisted reproduction in Australia
With rising infertility and increasing demand for fertility treatments globally, understanding the role of medically assisted reproduction (MAR) in population demographics and family formation patterns has never been more important. … Read more
Moroccan and Turkish older migrants in the Netherlands before the COVID-19 pandemic: lonely despite social contacts
Moroccan and Turkish older migrants in the Netherlands frequently feel lonely, not because they lack social relationships, Tineke Fokkema & Marjolijn Das note, but because of poorer health, lower socio-economic … Read more
A new Longevity Blue Zone in Martinique (France)
Longevity Blue Zones are regions of the world where the population has exceptional longevity. Until recently, four of them had been identified: the Nicoya peninsula in Costa Rica, and three … Read more
Kinlessness and loneliness before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic
The pre-COVID literature established that lacking a partner or children was among the risk factors for loneliness among older people. Bruno Arpino, Christine A. Mair, Nekehia T. Quashie, and Radoslaw … Read more
Why and where are deaths under-reported in India?
The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of accurately counting deaths, classifying them by age, sex, place of residence and cause. Although formally mandatory since 1969, death registration … Read more
Differential educational consequences of parental separation in West Germany
Children are not all equally influenced by parental separation. Wiebke Schulz shows that children with parents from a lower educational background have fewer chances of completing mid-secondary education. This is … Read more
Income and fertility – a positive relationship?
In Sweden, a positive association is emerging between income and fertility, Martin Kolk observes. Men and women with higher income have more children than their less wealthy peers, and the … Read more
Tertiary education and internal migration across Europe
There is a positive association between tertiary education and internal migration across Europe. Miguel González-Leonardo, Aude Bernard, Joan García-Román and Antonio López-Gay find that this holds also for immigrants: they … Read more
Older adult loneliness on the rise around the world
Population aging is contributing to an increase in loneliness around the world. Lauren Newmyer, Ashton M. Verdery, Haowei Wang, and Rachel Margolis explore loneliness among late-middle-aged and older adults and … Read more
Racial disparities in the adverse socio-economic outcomes of COVID-19 in the United States
Racial disparities in socio-economic and health outcomes are a topic of concern in the United States. As Deepthi Kolady and Weiwei Zhang show, they have also played a major role … Read more
Son preference and birth spacing in Pakistan
Rashid Javed and Mazhar Mughal investigate how son preference affects birth spacing in Pakistan. The impact they find is strong, with several negative consequences on the demographic transition of the … Read more
Life course reproductive dynamics and early menopause in Uganda
Premature drops in estrogen from early menopausal age may increase the risk of disease and death in later life. To understand what influences early menopausal onset, we looked at the … Read more
Adolescent fertility hampers education. The case of Chile
How does adolescent fertility affect high school completion for boys and girls in Chile? Controlling for socioeconomic and academic selectivity, Viviana Salinas and Valentina Jorquera-Samter find that a teenage mother … Read more
America’s high homicide rate
America leads advanced developed countries in terms of guns per capita and homicide rates, although with substantial variation by state, gender, and major racial/ethnic groups. Given its policies on police, … Read more
Reproductive burden and women’s employment in India
Low and declining female labour force participation in India has been a puzzle and a key policy question in the recent past. Chhavi Tiwari and Srinivas Goli argue that it … Read more
Children and (unequal) sharing of housework between partners in Hungary
In addition to their childcare responsibilities, women with young children often have to do more housework, thus making an already unequal balance even more skewed. Zsuzsanna Veroszta shows that, in … Read more
Health before and after union dissolution among mothers, fathers and children
Norwegian register data indicate that parents’ mental health deteriorates prior to union dissolution but improves afterwards. In contrast, Øystein Kravdal and Jonathan Wörn note, children seem to experience a continued … Read more
Labour force participation among older adults in India
India’s economic sector faces a reckoning with its ageing population. Aparajita Chattopadhyay and David E. Bloom‘s analysis, based on the Longitudinal Aging Study in India (LASI), indicates that health is … Read more
Late-career employment trajectories and postretirement mortality among Italian retirees
Benedetta Scotti1 examines the relationship between late-career trajectories and post-retirement mortality in Italy. She finds that exposure to employment instability in later working life, an increasingly prevalent phenomenon in many … Read more
Olympic Games help children grow up healthy
The benefits of the Olympic Games may be numerous and long lasting. Chao Guo highlights the positive role of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in reducing the risks of both … Read more
Does culture influence the gender division of housework and childcare?
Gender inequality in the division of housework persists. Elisa Brini, Anna Zamberlan and Paolo Barbieri investigate if cultural heritage is resistant to changes in socioeconomic and institutional environment by studying … Read more
Child survival in India: Hindus now catching up with Muslims
Until recently, child survival in India was lower among Muslims than among Hindus, despite the lower average socio-economic status of the former. Dibyasree Ganguly and Srinivas Goli note that this … Read more
Cohabitation matters when studying breakups of couples with different migrant backgrounds
Endogamy (partners of the same geographical origin) is said to lower the risk of marriage dissolution. However, once cohabitation is included in the analysis of Belgian (register) data, Layla Van … Read more
Women’s economic empowerment in sub-Saharan Africa: what do we know?
The centrality of women’s economic empowerment in achieving the sustainable development goals has attracted high level policy interest. Data limitations impede knowledge of its extent in Africa. Demographic and health … Read more
The Russian labour market and the Ukrainian war
An interview with Vladimir Gimpelson, director of the Centre for Labour Market Studies at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow, the Russian Federation. Introduction The Bell is a Moscow … Read more
The educational hypogamy puzzle in India
Status exchange is a leading factor behind the rising share of educational hypogamy marriages in India (women marrying less educated men), says Koyel Sarkar. Lower caste women aspire to upward … Read more
Did COVID-19 policies increase inequalities in mental well-being?
Besides its morbidity and mortality effects, COVID-19 gave rise to several non-pharmaceutical policy interventions affecting citizens’ social and economic conditions. Veronica Toffolutti et al. find that these measures negatively affected … Read more
More equitable sharing of housework facilitates childbearing among dual-income couples
As female labour force participation continues to rise in Taiwan, more women are faced with the dual burden of employment and household responsibilities. Jolene Tan highlights the impact of a … Read more