A paper examined the relationship between women's education and lifetime fertility intentions in Europe. A positive association between women's level of education and lifetime fertility intentions existed at both the individual and country levels, as well as in a micro-macro integrated framework. This association was, however, not responsive to country differences in terms of childcare services, gender equality, and economic conditions. The main explanation was that when policies and institutional contexts allowed highly educated women to have larger families, women of reproductive ages were more prone to make investments in both human capital and family size, because these choices were not seen as incompatible alternatives.
Source: Maria Rita Testa, Women's Fertility Intentions and Level of Education: Why are they positively correlated in Europe?, European Demographic Research Papers 3, Vienna Institute of Demography
Links: Paper
Date: 2012-Nov
A report examined the issue of population shrinkage in Europe. Shrinkage could be used as an opportunity to readjust cities to changing times and actively involve local residents in developing creative solutions.
Source: Annegret Haase, Gert-Jan Hospers, Simone Pekelsma, and Dieter Rink, Shrinking Areas: Front-runners in innovative citizen participation, European Urban Knowledge Network
Links: Report | EUKN press release
Date: 2012-Nov
An article said that Europe was experiencing a slowing growth of both the total and working-age populations, but that different regions would be affected in different ways. Even under favourable conditions, 35-40 per cent of all regions would face a labour force decline. If economic conditions were poor, 55-70 per cent of regions would see a labour force decline by 10 per cent or more. To keep regions prosperous (maintaining competitiveness) and to avoid worse inequality (maintaining cohesion), policy-makers needed to find ways to cope with these challenges through new fiscal and social policies – though policies directly affecting demographic and migratory trends might also be needed.
Source: Philip Rees, Nicole van der Gaag, Joop de Beer, and Frank Heins, 'European regional populations: current trends, future pathways, and policy options', European Journal of Population, Volume 28 Number 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Nov
An article said that rising educational enrolment, resulting in later ages at the end of education, accounted for a substantial part of the upward shift in the mean age at first birth in the 1980s and 1990s in Britain and in France.
Source: Maire Ni Bhrolchain and Eva Beaujouan, 'Fertility postponement is largely due to rising educational enrolment', Population Studies, Volume 66 Issue 3
Links: Abstract | Southampton University press release
Date: 2012-Oct
A paper examined the effect of family systems on people's fertility behaviour in Europe, from a social network perspective.
Source: Bastian Moenkediek and Hilde Bras, Family Systems, Welfare Regimes and Fertility Behavior in Contemporary Europe from a Social Network Perspective, Department of History, Radboud University Nijmegen (Netherlands)
Links: Link removed
Date: 2012-Sep
An article examined the increase in regional demographic and economic disparities in Germany and the United Kingdom. These disparities were a result of demographic processes that were largely shaped by internal and international mobility.
Source: Pawel Paluchowski, 'Demographic and economic disparities for NUTS regions in Germany and the UK in the recent past (1990-2010) and future', Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Volume 5 Issue 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Jun
A paper examined how far fertility trends responded to family policies in developed (OECD) countries over the period 1982-2007. Each instrument of the family policy package (paid leave, childcare services, and financial transfers) was found to have a positive influence, suggesting that the addition of these supports for working parents in a continuum during early childhood was likely to facilitate parents' choice to have children. Policy levers did not have similar weight, however: cash benefits covering childhood after the year of childbirth and the coverage of childcare services for children under age 3 had a larger potential influence on fertility than leave entitlements and benefits granted around childbirth.
Source: Angela Luci and Olivier Thevenon, The Impact of Family Policy Packages on Fertility Trends in Developed Countries, Working Paper 174, Institut National d Etudes Demographiques (Paris)
Links: Paper
Date: 2012-Jun
A report gave an overview of the main demographic trends faced by Europe – such as ageing, a decrease in the working-age population, and declining fertility. It described the European Union's actions to promote active ageing, and explained EU policy efforts to ensure adequate, safe, and sustainable pensions in the future.
Source: Demography, Active Ageing and Pensions: Social Europe Guide Volume 3, European Commission
Links: Report
Date: 2012-Jun
An article examined whether European women who had children in unions married, and if so, at what stage in family formation. It also considered whether women who conceived when cohabiting were more likely to marry or separate. Patterns of union formation and childbearing developed along different trajectories across countries. In all countries, however, fewer than 40 per cent of women remained in cohabitation up to 3 years after the first birth, suggesting that marriage remained the predominant institution for raising children.
Source: Brienna Perelli-Harris, Michaela Kreyenfeld, Wendy Sigle-Rushton, Renske Keizer, Trude Lappegard, Aiva Jasilioniene, Caroline Berghammer, and Paola Di Giulio, 'Changes in union status during the transition to parenthood in eleven European countries, 1970s to early 2000s', Population Studies, Volume 66 Issue 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Jun
A report said that nearly one-third of Europeans would be aged 65 or over by 2060. Having more people living longer posed 'significant challenges' for European economies and welfare systems. Based on existing policies, age-related public expenditure (on pensions, health, and long-term care) was projected to rise by 4.1 percentage points of national income between 2010 and 2060 – from 25 per cent to around 29 per cent of national income. Spending on pensions alone was projected to rise from 11.3 per cent to nearly 13 per cent of national income by 2060.
Source: The 2012 Ageing Report: Economic and budgetary projections for the 27 EU Member States (2010-2060), European Commission
Links: Report | European Commission press release | European Union press release
Date: 2012-May
An article examined why adult children and their parents lived together in European countries, and the role of individual characteristics, family structures, and cultural contexts. Country comparisons showed that welfare state arrangements also had a substantial effect. Co-residence appeared to be a response to economic insecurities at both individual and societal levels.
Source: Bettina Isengard and Marc Szydlik, 'Living apart (or) together? Coresidence of elderly parents and their adult children in Europe', Research on Ageing, Volume 34 Number 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-May
A paper examined different family size preferences in European countries and their link with actual fertility. It was found that around 30 per cent of women and men ended their reproductive career with fewer children than they had previously considered ideal, and that the difference between their mean ideal and actual family size was around 0.3 children. The people who were most optimistic about both their own life and their country's socio-economic situation were, on the one hand, childless persons and, on the other, those who had or would like to have large families with three or more children. This result, which contained an intrinsic contradiction, needed to be studied more thoroughly in further research.
Source: Maria Rita Testa, Family Sizes in Europe: Evidence from the 2011 Eurobarometer Survey, European Demographic Research Papers 2-2012, Vienna Institute of Demography
Links: Paper
Date: 2012-Apr
An article examined how occupational prospects affected first-birth decisions of men and women in Germany and the United Kingdom. It considered how welfare state alignment affected fertility rationales in the context of either promising or bleak occupational prospects. The results showed that welfare state orientations influenced work-family choices, leading to a delay of family formation among British and German women with a close labour market attachment. Furthermore, a lengthy process of occupational integration tended to hamper the transition to parenthood among both men and women, and particularly in Germany.
Source: Christian Schmitt, 'Labour market integration, occupational uncertainties, and fertility choices in Germany and the UK', Demographic Research, Volume 26
Date: 2012-Apr
An article examined the increase in the period total fertility rate in Europe between 1998 and 2008. It said that the increase was largely explained by a decline in the pace of fertility postponement.
Source: John Bongaarts and Tomas Sobotka, 'A demographic explanation for the recent rise in European fertility', Population and Development Review, Volume 38 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
See also: John Bongaarts and Tomas Sobotka, Demographic Explanation for the Recent Rise in European Fertility: Analysis based on the tempo and parity-adjusted total fertility, European Demographic Research Papers 4, Vienna Institute of Demography
Date: 2012-Mar
A report gave an overview of population ageing in the United Kingdom, its constituent countries, and the European Union. Median ages and percentages of people aged 65 and over were presented showing how the countries of the UK and the EU had aged between 1985 and 2010 and were projected to age up to 2035.
Source: Population Ageing in the United Kingdom Its Constituent Countries and the European Union, Office for National Statistics
Links: Report
Date: 2012-Mar
A paper introduced a collection of studies on how various dimensions of employment uncertainty, such as temporary working contracts and individual and aggregate unemployment, were related to the fertility and family formation of women and men in contexts across Europe.
Source: Michaela Kreyenfeld, Gunnar Andersson, and Ariane Pailhe, Economic Uncertainty and Family Dynamics in Europe, Working Paper 2012-006, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (Rostock, Germany)
Links: Paper
Date: 2012-Feb
A paper examined the role of states and regions in shaping spatial patterns of non-marital fertility in Europe. Variation in non-marital fertility levels had increased as a whole across Europe, and states continued to be important for determining these patterns. But the role of states relative to regions had declined in the latest period examined (1990-2007). Possible explanations for the changes included increased supranational integration, for example within the European Union, and decentralization within states leading to increases in variation in subnational contextual conditions.
Source: Sebastian Klusener, Brienna Perelli-Harris, and Nora Sanchez Gassen, Spatial Aspects of the Rise of Nonmarital Fertility Across Europe Since 1960: The role of states and regions in shaping patterns of change, Working Paper 2012-005, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (Rostock, Germany)
Links: Paper
Date: 2012-Feb
A new book examined the demographic challenges facing Europe. There was likely to be a dramatic increase in the number of elderly people in Europe, due to declining mortality combined with continuing low fertility. The working-age population would decrease. This process of ageing was the closing phase of the demographic transition – involving a shift from high to low birth and death rates – that had started in the 19th century.
Source: Bo Malmberg, Kristof Tamas, David Bloom, Rainer Munz, and David Canning, Global Population Ageing and Migration in Europe, Routledge
Links: Summary
Date: 2012-Jan
A paper examined the continent-wide increase in the period total fertility rate experienced by European countries between 1998 and 2008. The upturn could largely be explained by a decline in the pace of fertility postponement and the resulting reduction in 'tempo' distortions.
Source: John Bongaarts and Tomas Sobotka, Demographic Explanation for the Recent Rise in European Fertility: Analysis based on the tempo and parity-adjusted total fertility, European Demographic Research Papers 4, Vienna Institute of Demography
Links: Paper
Date: 2012-Jan
