Tag Archives: Fertility
Accelerating fertility decline through education and family planning
Accélérer la baisse de la fécondité grâce à l’éducation et la planification familiale
Daphne H. Liu, Adrian E. Raftery
Daphne H. Liu and Adrian E. Raftery find that increasing women’s educational attainment and contraceptive prevalence can have an accelerating effect on fertility decline in high-fertility countries, with a larger effect for the latter.
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COVID-19 pandemic: demographic highlights
Impact démographique de la pandémie de COVID-19
Joseph Chamie
The COVID-19 pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus has resulted in enormous consequences worldwide. Joseph Chamie highlights the pandemic’s impact on the components of population change: mortality, fertility and migration.
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Are demographic indicators really converging in post transitional countries?
Les indicateurs démographiques convergent-ils vraiment dans les pays post-transition ?
Maria Castiglioni, Gianpiero Dalla Zuanna, Letizia Tanturri
After the demographic transition, convergence in all demographic behaviours (moderate fertility, low mortality and very low migration) is the guiding assumption of the UN World Population Prospects Revisions.
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Trends in age at menarche in low- and middle-income countries
Évolution de l’âge aux premières règles dans les pays à revenu faible et intermédiaire
Tiziana Leone, Laura Brown
Understanding the timing and determinants of age at menarche is key to determining potential linkages between onset of puberty and health outcomes from a lifecourse perspective.
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Is the traditional gender-specialised division of labour still associated with higher fertility?
La répartition genrée des tâches est-elle encore associée à une fécondité plus élevée ?
Zhou Muzhi, Man-Yee Kan
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 are less likely to adopt the male-breadwinner, female-homemaker model,
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Persistence and reversals in Nordic fertility
Fécondité des pays nordiques : certaines tendances persistent, d’autres se renversent
Marika Jalovaara, Gerda Neyer, Gunnar Andersson
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 remarkably:
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Gender equality and fertility: is there a connection?
Égalité des sexes et fécondité: existe-t-il un lien?
Martin Kolk
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 not seem to work longitudinally (same country over time), as Martin Kolk shows.
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The rural-urban fertility gradient in the global South
Evolution de la fécondité rurale et urbaine dans les pays du Sud
Mathias Lerch
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 trends in the excess of rural over urban fertility in 60 countries.
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Fertility preferences and reproductive outcomes in the developing world
Désir d’enfant et fécondité réalisée dans les pays en développement
John Bongaarts, John Casterline
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 in countries approaching the end of the fertility
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Women, demography and politics
Femmes, démographie et politique
Udi Sommer
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.
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Effects of first birth postponement and assisted reproductive technology on completed fertility
Effets du report de la première naissance et des techniques de procréation assistée sur la descendance finale
Henri Leridon
Two forces with a contrasting impact on fertility have typically been overestimated in both scientific writing and the popular press. A marked postponement of fertility (by four years of age) causes fertility to decline by only about 0.2 children
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30 years of experience of the two-child policy in Yicheng, China
30 ans de mise en œuvre de la politique de deux enfants à Yicheng, en Chine
Yu Qin, Fei Wang
More and more countries have been adopting population policies to increase birth rates, in order to deal with the growing challenges of aging (United Nations 2013). Following the recent trend, China, the most populous country in the world,
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The pace of fertility decline in Sub-Saharan Africa
La fécondité en Afrique subsaharienne baisse plus lentement qu’ailleurs
David Shapiro, Andrew Hinde
Global social changes that diffuse across the world from country to country often proceed most quickly in those places that start last. Change in the pioneer regions is delayed by the extra effort required to overcome the obstacles to new ideas or practices; regions that join the trend later can draw on the experience of
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The Icelandic Saga. Fertility in the midst of delayed family formation
Islande : une fécondité élevée malgré le recul de l’âge à la maternité
Ari Klængur Jónsson
In European demography, Iceland has been an outlier until recently, with a fertility rate well above that of most countries on the continent. Between 1982 and 2014, the Icelandic total period fertility rate (TFR) ranged between 1.9 and 2.3 children per woman (Figure 1).
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Fertility in the time of economic crisis
La fécondité aux temps de la crise économique
Chiara Ludovica Comolli
When uncertain about the stability of their present or future earnings or jobs, individuals postpone life-changing decisions. Scientific research confirms conventional wisdom and shows that the Great Recession that started in 2008 had a paralyzing effect on childbearing in most western economies. As illustrated in Figure 1, after a period of growing fertility at the
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Persistent high fertility in rural Africa
Persistance d’une fécondité élevée en milieu rural africain
Michel Garenne
The fertility transition, defined as a change from high and natural fertility (in a range of five to nine children per woman) to low and controlled fertility (down to two children per woman or less) started in France in the 18th century, and spread during the 19th century to other European populations, including expatriate populations
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Surrogacy: a multi-faceted phenomenon
La gestation pour autrui: une réalité complexe et plurielle
Virginie Rozée, Laurent Toulemon
Although still rare among assisted reproductive technologies (ART)¹, surrogacy is a very controversial subject: some consider it as a new way to overcome infertility,
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Family planning in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya
Planning familial dans les bidonvilles de Nairobi, Kenya
Donatien Beguy, Alex C. Ezeh, Blessing U. Mberu, Jacques B.O. Emina
In Kenya, rapid population growth has occurred amidst poor urban governance and limited employment opportunities, leading to widespread urban poverty that is concentrated in informal settlements or slums.
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Recent fertility changes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Évolution récente de la fécondité en République démocratique du Congo
David Shapiro, Basile O. Tambashe
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is the third most populous country in sub-Saharan Africa, and one of the countries with the highest fertility in the world, at 6.6 children per woman in the country’s most recent Demographic and Health Survey (MPSMRM et al 2014). It is also one of the very few countries
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Past fertility and living alone in later life in Spain
La fécondité et le risque de vivre seule au grand âge en Espagne
David S. Reher, Miguel Requena
The prevalence of living alone during later life varies widely across developed countries but everywhere its recent growth has been remarkable, even in societies with traditionally strong family ties. Fertility has been very low in these countries for decades now, especially in the eastern and southern fringes of Europe, and there are simultaneous increases in
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First birth postponement and fertility in Europe
Report des premières naissances et fécondité en Europe
Hippolyte d’Albis, Angela Greulich, Gregory Ponthière
The postponement of first childbirth has been occurring in most European countries for some decades now. In public and media discussion, delayed childbearing is often rather glibly associated with the fact that more women are going to university and getting jobs, and that they consequently want fewer children. Researchers find that for women born in
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Will international adoption be replaced by surrogacy?
La gestation pour autrui va-t-elle remplacer l’adoption internationale?
Jean-François Mignot
Until the 1960s and 1970s, infecund (sterile) Western couples who desired a child but could not have one of their own could usually adopt a child in their home country. However, as contraception developed and induced abortion became legal in the West, fewer and fewer children were unwanted and abandoned by their birth parents and
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Are population policies effective?
Les politiques démographiques sont-elles efficaces ?
Jacques Vallin
Let us look at four types of objective that can legitimize population policies in a given context: reducing mortality (Vallin et Meslé, 2006), limiting fertility if the population is growing too quickly (Locoh et Vandermersch, 2006), or encouraging it if the opposite is true (De Santis, 2006), and controlling migration (Baldi et Cagiano de Azevedo,
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How women in South Korea juggle work and family life
La difficile conciliation entre travail et vie familiale en Corée
Li Ma
Employment and childbearing are important stages in a woman’s life course. Their relationship is influenced not only by individual characteristics, but also by the socio-economic and institutional context. Availability of childcare services, flexible working hours, and paid leave with job protection after childbirth
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Fertility in Western Europe: the role of religion
Religiosité et fécondité en Europe occidentale
Nitzan Peri-Rotem
The religious landscape in Western Europe is characterised by contrasting trends; while attendance rates at religious services have declined dramatically, over half of the population in this region still identify themselves as affiliated with a particular religion (Voas 2009). What is the relevance of religion to individual behaviour in these so-called secularised countries? More specifically,
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Son preference as a new twist in China’s low fertility
La préférence pour les fils et la faible fécondité en Chine
Quanbao Jiang, Ying Li, Jesús J. Sánchez-Barricarte
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 woman by 2010 (or, possibly, 1.5, taking account of possible underreporting; Cai, 2013). Among the drivers of fertility decline, birth control policy is considered by
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Adolescent fertility in Latin America and the Caribbean
La fécondité des adolescentes en Amérique latine et dans les Antilles
Jorge Rodriguez Vignoli
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 is still a concern: it is the second highest in the world, after sub-Saharan Africa (Figure 1). According to the latest censuses and surveys, approximately
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Fertility transition in India: sub-regional evidence
La transition de la fécondité dans les districts indiens
Sanjay K. Mohanty, Günther Fink, Rajesh K. Chauhan, David Canning
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 current trends continue, India will become the world’s most populous country in 2022.
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Lower world population growth? A matter of culture
Une moindre croissance démographique mondiale? Une question de culture
Vegard Skirbekk, Marcin Stonawski, Guido Alfani
The demographic transition, i.e., the passage from the ancient to the modern demographic regime of low fertility and low mortality, can be a highly heterogeneous process, and its impact on population growth can differ widely.
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Is there a gender bias in births and child mortality in Indonesia ?
Peut-on parler de discrimination sexuelle en Indonésie?
Christophe Z. Guilmoto
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 and patrilocal family systems prevail.
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Surprenante fécondité maghrébine
The puzzle of fertility in the Maghreb
Zahia Ouadah-Bedidi, Jacques Vallin
Au début des années 1970, la fécondité restait très élevée en Tunisie et au Maroc (6,5 enfants par femme) malgré les programmes de planning familial mis en œuvre au milieu des années 1960 et culminait même à plus de 8 en Algérie en raison du baby-boom qui a suivi la guerre de libération. Personne n’imaginait
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Des projections démographiques jusqu’en 2100… Est-ce bien raisonnable?
Demographic projections up to 2100 … Do they make sense?
Henri Leridon
En économie, il est rare que l’on se hasarde à des prévisions au-delà de quelques années. Il n’y a guère que les climatologues pour faire tourner des modèles sur 100 ans
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Les politiques démographiques sont-elles efficaces ?
On the dubious effectiveness of population policies
Jacques Vallin
Examinons quatre types d’objectifs pouvant légitimer des politiques de population dans un contexte donné : réduire la mortalité (Vallin et Meslé, 2006), limiter la fécondité si la croissance démographique est trop rapide
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