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Project

Low education, precarious family lives and the recent fertility downturn in Europe

This project investigates the role of precarious family lives among low educated people in the recent downturn of total fertility in Europe. While a recovery of fertility was expected with the recovery of European economies after the 2008 Recession, a continued fertility decline has been observed in many countries. In the past, fertility below the replacement level has been associated with prolonged participation in education, particularly among women. Low educated women tended to have the highest fertility. This project will investigate a number of reasons for expecting that this is changing and that the recent fertility downturn is a result of declining fertility among low educated people. Five interrelated mechanisms will be investigated: increasing marginalization on the partnering market, delays in the age at leaving the parental home due to unaffordable housing, employment uncertainty, shifting ideas about the proper age for parenthood, and union instability. Two rounds of the European Social Survey will be used that contain the “Timing of Life” module, namely rounds 3 and 9, with fieldwork carried out in 2006 and 2018. The Timing of Life module has been designed purposely to carry out research on major life course transitions like leaving the parental home, completing education, partnering, household formation, entry into the labour market, and childbearing. The combination of the two rounds enables Age-Period-Cohort analysis.

Date:1 Jan 2021 →  Today
Keywords:fertility, family, demography
Disciplines:Fertility, Family and household studies, Population trends and policies