Did you know?
Contributions to total population change of the balance of births over deaths and of immigration over emigration, by income group, from 1950-60 to 2040-50. Over the next few decades, migration … Read more
Fertility
The old and the new natalism are not at odds
Religion has historically been a pronatalist force, but because it fosters traditional gender role attitudes, it could impede a fertility recovery stimulated by gender equity. Instead, Laurie DeRose explains how … Read more
Fewer and later births in South Korea, especially among more educated women
With a total fertility rate of 0.81 in 2021, South Korea has the lowest fertility rate in the world. Within a generally declining trend, and very low levels globally, Jolene … Read more
Sex-selective abortion in India: an ongoing problem
In India, the percentage of male births has increased since the mid-1980s. Claus Pörtner ties the continuously growing use of prenatal sex selection to India’s falling fertility among highly-educated women. … Read more
Cognition-driven demographic transition
The concept of demographic transition is a century old, but there is still no consensus about its drivers. Wolfgang Lutz highlights a recent reassessment of the theory, which adds cognition … Read more
Increasing childlessness driven by higher female education in India
While still low, childlessness in India is on the rise. Trends in childlessness are linked to the opposing factors of poverty and opportunity-driven causes of childlessness, which Koyel Sarkar and … Read more
Unpacking the mortality-fertility link in Malawi: the role of unintended fertility
Current explanations on the link between mortality and fertility imply that mortality exposure increases fertility desires. Conversely, Emily Smith-Greenaway, Sara Yeatman, and Abdallah Chilungo find that, in Malawi, increased mortality … Read more
The contribution of the foreign-born population to demographic change in Europe
What drives demographic change in Europe? Christos Bagavos shows that between 2014 and 2019 this change was due more to foreign-born than native-born populations, through both a direct effect (net … Read more
International migration from Africa to France and contraception use
An original multi-sited analysis of migration (from selected sub-Saharan African countries to France) and contraceptive use reveals that migrant women align more closely with native French women than women in … Read more
Can policies halt the fertility decline?
Family-friendly policies can raise fertility and explain at least part of fertility differences across countries, say Janna Bergsvik, Agnes Fauske, and Rannveig Kaldager Hart. Countries that have thus far provided … Read more
Gravitas Plus: The world’s fertility rate is falling. Here’s why
Is motherhood a moral imperative for women? Today, couples around the world are choosing to stay child-free. Fertility rates have dropped. Governments are offering inducements to couples to have children. … Read more
Fertility decline in Jordan resumes after nearly 15 years of stall
Caroline Krafft, Elizabeth Kula and Maia Sieverding show that a long period of stall in the total fertility rate in Jordan has recently ended. Yet data sources disagree on the … Read more
Unintended and sooner-than-intended childbearing in Eastern and Western Europe
Examining two waves of a panel survey, Zuzanna Brzozowska, Isabella Buber-Ennser and Bernhard Riederer find evidence that women and men in post-socialist countries more often have a child they planned … Read more
Late mothers and late fathers have a first birth with younger partners
Individual characteristics of late parents have been extensively studied in demographic literature, but less is known about the parental couple. As Marie-Caroline Compans shows, looking at fathers and mothers separately, … Read more
Average length of life spent childless. Cross-sectionally speaking
In addition to the commonly used fertility measures, Ryohei Mogi, Jessica Nisén, and Vladimir Canudas-Romo suggest an alternative approach to the study of first birth behaviour, focusing on how long women … Read more
Accelerating fertility decline through education and family planning
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 … Read more
COVID-19 pandemic: demographic highlights
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. … Read more
Are demographic indicators really converging in post transitional countries?
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. Maria Castiglioni, … Read more
Trends in age at menarche in low- and middle-income countries
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. Tiziana Leone and Laura … Read more
Religion as a moderating factor in the education-fertility relationship
Female education is often linked to lower fertility levels and higher rates of childlessness. However, this relationship does not necessarily hold for all population groups. In this study, Nitzan Peri-Rotem … Read more
Internet: a tool for promoting contraceptive uptake in sub-Saharan African countries
The Internet is a time-saving and cost-effective modern technology to enact general healthcare programs. Veronica Toffolutti, Hai Ma, Giulia Menichelli, Ester Berlot, Letizia Mencarini and Arnstein Aassve argue that it … Read more
Fertility inequality can slow down global poverty reduction in developing countries
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
How cash support and tax relief may matter for third births in Hungary
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
Migrants’ fertility in Italy: a comparison between origin and destination
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
Why has migrant fertility in Norway declined?
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
In Switzerland, fertility does not rhyme with happiness
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
Is the traditional gender-specialised division of labour still associated with higher fertility?
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
The impact of migration on the fertility of receiving countries
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
In Australia fertility is falling only for low educated women
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
Another reason why the fertility-contraceptive relationship has weakened*
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
Does broadband Internet affect fertility in Germany?
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
Longer and shifted reproductive lives amongst adolescent mothers
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
Socioeconomic disparities in Finnish children’s family life
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
Where, in India, is hospital birth safer for babies than home birth?
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
Persistence and reversals in Nordic fertility
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
Gender equality and fertility: is there a connection?
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
The rural-urban fertility gradient in the global South
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
Fertility preferences and reproductive outcomes in the developing world
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
Ageing without children in Thailand: bad for mental health?
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
Adolescent contraceptive use and its effects on fertility
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
Fertility decisions in Poland: looking beyond national boundaries
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
Birth spacing and long-term health and mortality
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
Women, demography and politics
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
Effects of first birth postponement and assisted reproductive technology on completed fertility
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) … Read more
30 years of experience of the two-child policy in Yicheng, China
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, … Read more
The pace of fertility decline in Sub-Saharan Africa
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 … Read more
Half the world’s population reaching below replacement fertility
According to the most recent UN estimates (United Nations 2017), almost one half of the world’s population lives in countries with below replacement fertility (BRF), i.e. with a total fertility … Read more
The Icelandic Saga. Fertility in the midst of delayed family formation
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 … Read more
Fertility in the time of economic crisis
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 … Read more
Persistent high fertility in rural Africa
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 … Read more
Surrogacy: a multi-faceted phenomenon
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,others see it as a new reproductive … Read more
Family planning in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya
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. In Nairobi, … Read more
Recent fertility changes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
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 … Read more
Did you know?
Italy, Spain and Germany have reported the largest increase in childlessness in Europe. Source: http://www.fertilitydatasheet.org/
Past fertility and living alone in later life in Spain
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 … Read more
First birth postponement and fertility in Europe
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 … Read more
Will international adoption be replaced by surrogacy?
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. … Read more
Are population policies effective?
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 … Read more
How women in South Korea juggle work and family life
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 … Read more
Fertility in Western Europe: the role of religion
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 … 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
Lower world population growth? A matter of culture
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 … 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
Surprenante fécondité maghrébine
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 … Read more
Des projections démographiques jusqu’en 2100… Est-ce bien raisonnable?
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 … Read more
Les politiques démographiques sont-elles efficaces ?
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 … 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