In Norway, as the number of children increases, mortality generally falls or remains almost constant. However, Øystein Kravdal notes an exception when it comes to cardiovascular disease mortality: for men who … Read more
Does union status affect the intergenerational transmission of advantage? Using data from 30 African countries, Emily Smith-Greenaway examines whether the health advantages associated with parents’ education are comparable for childrenwith … Read more
Women tend to earn less than their male partners, all over the world. André Grow and Jan Van Bavel show that this can easily be explained by combining the unequal … Read more
Debates about global poverty often omit demographic factors. Frank-Borge Wietzke tries to fill this gap, and documents a significant effect of fertility on poverty. This influence works in large part … Read more
Life expectancy at birth is widely employed to measure longevity. However, as José Manuel Aburto, Ginevra Floridi and Ella Fegitz argue, another complementary dimension of great relevance in health research … Read more
Well targeted policy measures can influence fertility even in times of intensive social and economic change. Analysing data from the Hungarian Generations and Gender Survey, Zsolt Spéder, Lívia Murinkó and … Read more
It is rarely possible to compare stayers in an origin country, migrants from that country and non-migrants in the destination country.In the case of Italy, however, Roberto Impicciatore, Giuseppe Gabrielli … Read more
Aude Bernard and Sergi Vidal investigate the impact of childhood moves on internal migration behaviour in adulthood in 11 European countries. They find that childhood moves significantly increase the likelihood … Read more
Examining couples in both the United States and western Germany, Daniela Bellani and Gøsta Esping-Andersen find lower divorce risks when the division of unpaid work is more balanced. This suggests … Read more
Spatial inequalities in mortality decreased in France between 1881 and 1980 (“the century of convergence”), and life expectancy increased at national level. However, Florian Bonnet and Hippolyte d’Albis show that … Read more
Using data from Demographic and Health Surveys, Liliana Andriano and Christiaan Monden show that, everything else equal, each additional year of maternal schooling reduces children’s probability of dying before age … Read more
In 1996-2000, for the first time in Peru, surgical contraception was promoted among indigenous women, and sometimes imposed upon them. As Marianna Battaglia and Nina Pallarés show, its overall positive … Read more
International migration and family life are frequently difficult to reconcile. Valentina Mazzucato, Djamila Schans, Kim Caarls, and Cris Beauchemin focus on three cases (the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, and … Read more
Fertility among immigrants has declined in many Western countries. In Norway, Marianne Tønnessen finds that the successful integration of immigrants is not the main driver of the decline since 2000, … Read more
Martin Kolk and Gunnar Andersson study the evolution of same-sex marriages, childbearing and divorce in Sweden. They highlight increases in childbearing and marriage of female couples in particular, and a … Read more
Recent studies have questioned whether family size negatively affects children’s educational outcomes. Based on information from the extended famil, Ea Blaabæk and Joseph Molitoris find that family size has a … Read more
Even in Belgium, despite its strong work-family reconciliation policies, childbearing pushes couples towards more traditional gender roles: when one member of a couple exits the labour market or takes parental … Read more
Low-educated persons are especially likely to have their children outside marriage in Finland. While the proportion of people with low education has declined sharply in most countries in recent decades, … Read more
We frequently hear that international migrants are a selected subgroup of their origin populations. The veracity of this statement is generally just assumed or inferred from comparison on some specific … Read more
Legalizing same-sex marriage is as an important step toward reducing differences in well-being based on sexual orientation. For example, the subjective well-being of individuals in same-sex couples increased following legalizationin … Read more
Substantial literature documents that twins have higher mortality than singletons, but does not address whether this twin disadvantage eventually disappears, and if so, at what age. Roland Pongou, David Shapiro … Read more
Hill Kulu and Tina Hannemann investigated the spread of ethnic intermarriage and co-ethnic marriage across different ethnic minorities in the UK. They found specific socio-economic factors for different ethnic minorities … Read more
Using the world’s longest running survey of health data, the National Health Interview Survey, Jona Schellekens shows that the decrease in mortality from cardiovascular disease in the US postponed the … Read more
Since the 1980s, obesity prevalence has increased threefold in many European countries. Without obesity, life expectancy in 26 European countries in 2012 would have been, on average, 1.2 years higher … Read more
A striking contrast in demographic and development indicators emerges from a recent analysis of the 640 districts of India, which Sanjay K. Mohanty, Udaya S. Mishra, Rajesh K. Chauhan and … Read more
Racial and ethnic disparities in the relative likelihood of experiencing poverty and affluence in the United States generally narrowed over the 1959 to 2015 period, indicative of moderate steps toward … Read more
Some older adults do not have spouses or biological children, i.e. the types of family members who are most likely to provide help in case of need. Rachel Margolis and … Read more
Offering free daycare services could substantially increase female employment in Africa. Results from a randomized control trial conducted by Shelley Clark, Caroline Kabiru, Sonia Laszlo, and Stella Muthuri in an … Read more
In recent decades, the proportion of individuals living alone has increased in many European countries. Glenn Sandström and Lena Karlsson compare the living arrangements of the working-age population, showing that … Read more
Wolfgang Lutz, Jesus Crespo Cuaresma, and Nicholas Gailey show that the “demographic dividend” does not result from the opening of “a window of opportunity” caused by a declining youth dependency … Read more
Rashid Javed and Mazhar Mughal analyze the effects of the pervasive phenomenon of son preference on Pakistani women’s participation in household decision-making. They find that women with at least one … Read more
Parenthood typically improves people’s life satisfaction, even if only in the short run. Surprisingly, instead, Malgorzata Mikucka finds that a second birth has a negative, albeit temporary, effect on Swiss … Read more
Recent work on wealthy populations has called into question long-standing conclusions about the importance of birth spacing for infant health. Using data from 77 countries, Joseph Molitoris and colleagues show … Read more
Fostering is common throughout sub-Saharan Africa, but the motivations for fostering and consequences for fostered children remain unclear. In northern Tanzania, Sophie Hedges, Rebecca Sear, Jim Todd, Mark Urassa, and … Read more
Heeju Sohn quantifies the diverging kin networks of adults with low and high socioeconomic status (SES) in the United States. In 2013, high SES adults had about 13 years with … Read more
In Great Britain, compared to 20 years ago, the traditional gender division of labour is no longer benefiting fertility, note Muzhi Zhou and Man-Yee Kan. Nowadays, couples with more children … Read more
Population ageing is inevitable, but its negative consequences on the future labour force of the European Union, up to 2060, could be greatly attenuated if women and immigrants were more … Read more
Ettore Recchi, Emanuel Deutschmann and Maxime Chabriel have recently created a dataset to estimate international mobility (border crossing), on the basis of global statistics on tourism and air passenger traffic. … Read more
Marriage and childbearing postponement have contributed significantly to China’s fertility decline, and will continue to do so in the future. With the fall in the number of women of childbearing … Read more
Religious couples tend to have more children than secular ones, suggesting that children add more to the happiness of the former than they do to the latter. Jona Schellekens investigated … Read more
For the 2020 census round, Paolo Valente informs us that two-thirds of European countries plan to increase efficiency by using methods other than the traditional census based on paper questionnaires. Registers will … Read more
How much does immigration really contribute to fertility in more developed regions? Christos Bagavos shows that, between 2009 and 2015, in the United States, Australia and 13 European countries, the … Read more
Women are more likely to provide care to multiple family members or friends simultaneously at most ages throughout the life course except at the very oldest ages when gender differences … Read more
Bruno Arpino and Madelin Gómez-León examine the effect on depression of combining grandchild care with other care roles among individuals aged 50 to 84 in Europe. Their results show that … Read more
As fertility declines in low- and middle-income countries, the time women devote to childrearing may also be reduced, opening up possibilities for women to pursue educational and employment opportunities. John Bongaarts, … Read more
Various explanations have been put forward to shed light on individual decisions to migrate and the effects of migration on the household of origin. Using panel data from migrants and … Read more
From 2006 to 2016, fertility in Australia remained constant for women with high education while it fell sharply for women with low education. As in the Nordic countries, Peter McDonald … Read more
Agnès Guillaume and Clémentine Rossier review the evidence on abortion in the world since 1990. Few countries have liberalized their laws since then, and regressive movements are frequent. The diffusion … Read more
In the context of population ageing, work-family reconciliation policies potentially play an important role in supporting both fertility and parental employment. However, the evaluation of such policies remains a challenge. … Read more
Homicide rates in Latin America are higher than elsewhere in the world, although with considerable variation within the region. In some countries, they are so high that they are significantly … Read more
The fertility-contraceptive relationship has weakened in recent years, meaning that greater contraceptive prevalence is needed to obtain a comparable reduction in fertility. Various explanations have been attempted, including unobserved heterogeneity … Read more
Using German data, Francesco Billari, Osea Giuntella and Luca Stella test whether broadband Internet influences fertility choices in a low-fertility setting. They find positive effects of high-speed Internet on the … Read more
Adolescent mothers are atypical not only at the start of their reproductive career, but also in its following stages, which are characterized by a higher intensity but slower tempo, notes … Read more
Increasing attention is directed towards the ‘diverging destinies’ of children born in different family contexts. One might expect disparities to be small in Nordic welfare states, yet in Finland, as … Read more
One way to tackle population ageing and its negative consequences on pension systems is to increase the official retirement age. However, most employees retire earlier than “expected”. Jana Mäcken tests the … Read more
Sustainable Development Goal 3 aims to reduce global neonatal mortality (NNM) to 12 deaths per 1,000 births by 2030. Reducing NNM in India is critical to this goal because it … Read more
The mortality of immigrants, even those from poor countries, is lower than that of natives, even in rich receiving countries. In this article, Matthew Wallace examines whether this advantage is … Read more
Many studies find that highly educated women have few children and high level of childlessness, but as Marika Jalovaara and colleagues show, the patterns in the Nordic countries have changed … Read more
Masked by time, educational disruptions of the 1980s help explain why steady fertility declines came to a surprising halt in the 2000s in ten sub-Saharan African countries. The findings, according … Read more
In the last decades, researchers have suggested that gender equality may have a positive effect on fertility in high-income countries. While this conjecture appears to be true cross-sectionally, it does … Read more
Decades of sweeping demographic, economic, and social change have radically transformed structures, gender roles, and intergenerational bonds of families worldwide, initially in high‐income countries (HICs), and more recently in low‐ … Read more
Rapid economic and demographic changes can pose serious challenges to governments, especially when a modern welfare system must be built, with a radical shift from family-oriented to state-based social protection.The … Read more
Public interest in migration has intensified in recent times, and restrictive policies are gaining increasing political support. These are often based on misconceptions, such as migrants being responsible for spreading … Read more
Fertility changes in urban versus rural areas of the global South matter for world population dynamics. However, no patterned regularity over time has yet been observed. Mathias Lerch re-assesses long-term … Read more
Female life expectancy is higher than that of males, and this gender gap is largest in Eastern Europe. Sergi Trias-Llimós and Fanny Janssen show that alcohol-attributable mortality explained more than … Read more
Political representatives are routinely accused of not following up on promises. They get less criticism for not speaking on citizen rights. In the case of sexual and reproductive health and … Read more
Following on from last week’s article, Massimo Livi Bacci details four specific threats to human survival (or, at least, quality of survival) that are directly linked to population growth. Four … Read more
Malthus is long dead, but his ideas live on and are still widely debated today. Massimo Livi Bacci argues that he was probably right, after all. Malthus and the limits … Read more
In developing economies, transportation infrastructures are considered a growth factor. But is this still true when the economy matures? Bishal Kasu and Guangqing Chi answer this question using recent (1970–2010) … Read more
The ultimate form of health inequality is death. Combining the concepts of region, division, and urban-rural residence in the U.S., Wesley James, Jeralynn Cossman, Julia Wolf highlight variation in mortality … Read more
The implementation of fertility desires through contraception is imperfect, resulting in unplanned births and induced abortions. The highest unplanned pregnancy rates (over two pregnancies during a woman’s lifetime) are observed … Read more
Population movements have changed radically in recent times, both in quantity and quality: “traditional” (economic) international migration is now accompanied by new types of mobility (refugees and displaced persons) caused … Read more
In the 90 years since its foundation in 1928, the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP), or simply the Union, has been very active in the field … Read more
Gender equality in political participation may make a difference. Ross Macmillan, Naila Shofia, and Wendy Sigle show that women’s presence in national legislatures above a threshold of around 30 percent … Read more
A growing body of research has suggested that one way to preserve cognition in later-life is to delay retirement and continue to work into the later years. Irene Mosca and … Read more
Proving many experts’ forecasts wrong, large parts of Europe are witnessing population growth rather than stability or decline. Hannes Weber notes that this is having detrimental effects on the environment … Read more
Women tend to adapt to their male spouse when families move. Maria Brandén and Karen Haandrikman examine whether this is also true for the moves couples make when forming a … Read more
While the mean ages at death for Danish and Swedish centenarians were relatively constant at around 102 years for the cohorts born between 1870 and 1904, Anthony Medford shows that … Read more
Excess female mortality resulting from gender discrimination in the postnatal period was still common in India at the beginning of the century. Yet, little attention has been paid so far … Read more
In the study of ethnic residential segregation, global measures are typically used. However, while useful as summary indicators, these measures miss important and distinctive age-specific and birth-cohort trends. Albert Sabater and … Read more
Disability in old age is known to be greater among Hispanic immigrants than US-born populations. However, little is known about immigrant disability at younger ages. Using ACS data, Mara Getz … Read more
Official demographic forecasts have always been too timid about future increases in life expectancy, and according to Nico Keilman, continue to be so even today. There are reasons for this … Read more
Repeating a school year is an ineffective pedagogical practice: it fails to improve the academic performance of those who are held back, and in some cases it may even make … Read more
Today, urban health conditions are often assumed to be universally superior to those of the rural sector. However, as Ashira Menashe-Oren and Guy Stecklov show, while child mortality is higher … Read more
Cohabitation, nonmarital childbearing, and partnership dissolution are now common in the U.S. Katherine Michelmore and Kelly Musick examine patterns of union instability among couples who have had a child together, … Read more
Declining fertility and increasing migration are contributing to growing shares of older Thais who will age with few children, or none at all, or whose children live far away.Quashie and … Read more
Using data from the American Community Survey 2008-2014, Zhenchao Qian and Daniel T. Lichter show how assortative mating patterns are subject to local marriage market conditions.They also find that previously … Read more
Adolescent reproductive health is part of internationally agreed development goals but unmarried adolescents are often left out of the picture despite higher contraceptive demand and prevalence in this group.Sánchez-Páez and … Read more
Researchers have often assumed that only circumstances within national borders influence fertility decisions. In an integrated Europe, however, people may know about and compare conditions across countries.At least in the … Read more
The increasing popularity of cohabitation has opened a debate on the stability of cohabitations, and especially those in which there is a child. Zuzana Žilinčíková shows that cohabitations have a … Read more
A large body of previous work has suggested that both short and long birth intervals are associated with poor birth outcomes such as low birth weight and preterm birth, as … Read more
Due to rapid and profound demographic changes, population age structure in Brazil has changed sharply in the past few years. Contrary to widespread belief, however, Maria Carolina Tomás, Everton Emanuel … Read more
Although previously unknown among natives in EU28, the practice of female genital mutilation/cutting is a present concern for European policymakers. As many as 500,000 foreign-born girls and women in Europe … Read more
Demographic variables, female-related predictors in particular, have an independent effect on political structure. Comparing different countries over time, when fertility rates decline, we observe a growth in democracy.Due to changes … Read more
Trends in labour force participation and health status of older adults in Latin America reveal a puzzling pattern: the greatly improved health (and labour) conditions of recent years have translated … Read more
Surprising as it may seem, even in developed countries, systematic and large differences in survival exist between rich and poor populations. In France, for instance, Nathalie Blanpain tells us that … Read more
Using European panel data from 2003 to 2011 (EU-SILC), Angela Greulich, Mathilde Guergoat-Larivière and Olivier Thévenon show that dual-earner couples are more likely to have a second child than couples … Read more
Together with Fjalar Finnäs and Mikael Rostila, Jan Saarela shows that in Finland the death of a minor child has only a modest influence on the parental divorce risk, whereas … Read more
Previous research has indicated that being born to older parents is detrimental for offspring longevity. However, the secular trend of increasing longevity may moderate or even reverse any potential negative … Read more
The negative association between advanced maternal age and low birth weight has become progressively weaker over time in the UK (between 1958-2001). This pattern, as Alice Goisis explains, is partly … Read more