lunes, 13 de febrero de 2017

Childlessness is growing in Europe | MercatorNet

Childlessness is growing in Europe



Childlessness is growing in Europe



Childlessness is growing in Europe

But it's still lower than it once was.
Marcus Roberts | Feb 13 2017 | comment 

Last month an interesting report was released entitled “Has childlessness peaked in Europe?” which was written by four researchers at the Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital at the Vienna Institute of Demography. The report looked at how the proportion of women who do not have children has changed in European women born in the years 1900-1970. Over that time, the European trend roughly describes a “U” shape. Of those women born in 1900, nearly a quarter (!) would remain childless. This very large number was due to the First World War and the death of large numbers of young men of marriageable age which meant that many women could not find a husband. Furthermore, in part s of Southern, Central and Eastern Europe, many men migrated to richer countries for work, further exacerbating the problem of lack of potential husbands.
From that 1900 peak, the childlessness rate declined over the next 40 years until it hit its lowest rate among those women born during and just after World War Two. For women born in those years, the childlessness rate was about 10 per cent due to the economic prosperity that most of Western Europe had in the 1950s and 1960s. From 1945-1970 the trend has slowly tracked back upwards to just under 15 per cent due to cultural shifts regarding children, family and the role of women in society. According to the authors of the report:
“Most of the economic and cultural trends of the last half-century appear to have steered women and men away from having children. Reliable contraception, delayed union formation and childbearing, greater family fragility, demanding careers and job instability, as well as general economic uncertainty, are likely to foster childlessness.”
The figure of 15 per cent for Europe as a whole masks some large regional variations. Eastern and Central Europe have traditionally had a much lower childlessness rate due to social pressures to marry young and the continuing importance of the family in such societies. In 1970 the childlessness rate in these areas of Europe was about 11 per cent. On the other side, there are a number of countries in Western Europe that have a childlessness rate much higher than the average including: Belgium, Spain, Greece, the Netherlands, England and Wales, Austria, Ireland, Finland, Italy and Switzerland. Germany has a childlessness rate of 23 per cent. There are moves to encourage having children in Germany and Austria (including making it easier for women to work and raise a family) and there are some signs that the women born in the early 1970s (which the report doesn’t cover) are less likely to not have children. Conversely, the childlessness rate in Spain, Italy and Greece is rapidly rising due to the economic problems in those countries.
The report’s authors predict that:
“While childlessness has broadly stabilized in western and northern Europe, it is likely to continue rising fast in southern Europe, where up to one quarter of the women born in the 1970s may remain childless. Childlessness will probably also continue rising in central and eastern Europe, where a new pattern of delayed reproduction has been taking hold since the 1990s, following the turbulent collapse of the state socialist political and economic system in the region.”
In short, the demographic issues affecting the future of so many European countries is probably going to continue. 
- See more at: https://www.mercatornet.com/demography/view/childlessness-is-growing-in-europe/19312#sthash.ja66btKY.dpuf



MercatorNet





Chastity is often derided as naïve and impossible, but the impact of its absence is devastating, argues Pat Fagan in today’s lead.

His brief but incisive article shows graphically that successful marriages are correlated with this old-fashioned virtue. “A culture of monogamy is critical to a thriving nation or a thriving culture. A culture of chastity is foundational to a culture of monogamy,” he writes. “Thus the cultivation of chastity is central to a robust nation and a robust culture.”

It’s terrific reading. Pass it on


Michael Cook
Editor
MERCATORNET



Australia’s Royal Commission should investigate government schools
By Michael Cook
Reports in the media suggest that there may be a serious problem of sexual abuse, past and present
Read the full article
 
 
The most important correlation in all of social science
By Patrick F. Fagan
Number of sexual partners and duration of first marriage.
Read the full article
 
 
Childlessness is growing in Europe
By Marcus Roberts
But it's still lower than it once was.
Read the full article
 
 
The ever-expanding family of LGB acronyms
By Michael Cook
Now we'll have to add BDSM after the Fifty Shades novels and films
Read the full article
 
 
Manipulating science news
By Heather Zeiger
Politics is not the only place to look for 'fake news"
Read the full article
 
 
Putin, memory wars and the 100th anniversary of the Russian revolution
By Mark Edele
Politically, the Revolution can neither be fully embraced nor fully disowned.
Read the full article
 
 
Mothers let down by feminism
By Shannon Roberts
One reason for low fertility.
Read the full article
 
 
Gosnell ‘serial killer’ abortion book is a bestseller
By Sheila Liaugminas
But the New York Times snubs it, revealing that the Times bestseller list is a matter of opinion.
Read the full article
 
 
A woman politician who believes women deserve better than abortion
By Mary Joseph
She’s in good company. Even Hillary Clinton said, “of course you can be a feminist and be pro-life.”
Read the full article
 
 
Religious freedom in the Muslim world: a nuanced appraisal
By Daniel Philpott
The Muslim world is no monolith.
Read the full article
 
 
It’s a hard-knocked life
By Jennifer Minicus
Tabitha's parents want to send her back to the orphanage.
Read the full article
 
 
The revolution has happened – protestors are the reactionaries
By Campbell Campbell-Jack
Progressive elites cling to their global brands against resurgent patriotism.
Read the full article


MERCATORNET | New Media Foundation
Suite 12A, Level 2, 5 George Street, North Strathfied NSW 2137, Australia

Designed by elleston

New Media Foundation | Suite 12A, Level 2, 5 George St | North Strathfield NSW 2137 | AUSTRALIA | +61 2 8005 8605 

Childlessness is growing in Europe

No hay comentarios: