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.