Beyond mothers who father: the study of female headship
More than half of a century has passed since Edith Clark first wrote “My Mother Who Fathered Me” in 1957, a classic study on single motherhood (marriage, sex, and concubinage) … Read more
Children
What stops parents from having a second child?
Parents of one child are commonly confronted by the first child’s persistent pleas for a little brother or sister. However, they might be skeptical about satisfying their child’s request because … Read more
Neonatal mortality trend in Indian states, 1981-2011
According to the most recent estimates, under-five mortality¹ in India is decreasing, but the annual number of under-five deaths is still as high as 1.2 million, the largest in the … Read more
China after the one-child policy: parents bereaved of their only child
In 1980, China launched its national one-child policy, in response to both a huge concern about the prospects of rapid population growth impacting on resources and a desire to increase … Read more
The emergence of the one-child family in India
The whole world knows and talks about the “one-child” phenomenon in China. Most of this discussion is tied to analyses of the one-child policy instituted by the Chinese government in … Read more
The drivers of children’s outcomes in Australia
Childhood has gained renewed attention from academics, researchers and policy makers, as evidence shows that this stage of life deeply affects future educational achievements and labour market success (Blanden, Gregg … Read more
Better education has become a stabilizer of marriages in Taiwan
While divorce is usually lower in Asian than in Western societies, a drastic rise in crude divorce rates has been reported in many East Asian countries in the recent past … Read more
Which adult children live with their elderly parents in China?
Co-residence between elderly parents and independent, married adult children is a common phenomenon in East Asian societies. For example, according to the 2005 China Inter-Census Survey data, two thirds of … Read more
Migration background and parental leave uptake in Sweden
Introduction Family policy in Sweden is designed to strongly encourage parents (and especially women) to combine work and family formation. The parental leave system makes it profitable for people (women) … Read more
Does birth order affect earnings? Only temporarily
The sooner (you are born) the better – initially. The existing empirical evidence suggests that the first-born earn a wage premium with respect to the later-born. One reason is better … Read more
Son preference as a new twist in China’s low fertility
China is now facing the challenge of low fertility. Its total fertility rate first fell below replacement level in the early 1990s, and had dropped to only 1.18 children per … Read more
Adolescent fertility in Latin America and the Caribbean
Up until the 1970s, the Latin American and Caribbean region stood out for its high levels of fertility. Decline was rapid in subsequent years, but adolescent fertility in the region … Read more
Fertility transition in India: sub-regional evidence
Population stabilization in India is of obvious global significance. According to the latest census, India’s population was 1,210 million in 2011, accounting for 17 percent of the global population; if … Read more
Counting who is dying in Sub-Saharan Africa and what they are dying from: an imperative for the post-2015 agenda
Introduction The need for timely and reliable mortality estimates is acute in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), and about half of all under-five deaths. Yet, there is considerable uncertainty as to mortality … Read more
Is there a gender bias in births and child mortality in Indonesia?
Son preference and gender bias, which are revealed in births and child mortality, tend to be concentrated in South Asia, East Asia, Southeast Europe, and the South Caucasus—places where patrilineal … Read more
The decline of family size ideals and the Great Recession in Europe
The number of children individuals would like to have, or would have liked to have had, also known as personal ideal family size, has been stable in the EU-15 as … Read more