Lowest low fertility in Spain: Insights from the 2018 Spanish Fertility Survey

Mariona Lozano, Qi Cui, Albert Esteve, Ryohei Mogi and Diederik Boertien
Additional contact information
Mariona Lozano: Centre d'Estudis Demogràfics (CED)
Qi Cui: London School of Economics and Political Science
Albert Esteve: Centre d'Estudis Demogràfics (CED)
Ryohei Mogi: Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Diederik Boertien: Centre d'Estudis Demogràfics (CED)

Demographic Research, 2024, vol. 51, issue 19, 625-636

Abstract: Background: Spain has one of the most enduring low levels of fertility in the world, but desired fertility there is still close to two children. Objective: We document recent fertility trends and examine the reasons that women and men provide for not achieving their desired fertility. Methods: We use data from the 2018 Spanish Fertility Survey (14,556 women and 2,619 men). We provide a cohort and age perspective and compare women and men. We use retrospective information and classify the reasons people report for not having (more) children. Results: Estimates on observed fertility, employment, and partnerships show that having a stable partner between the ages of 25 and 35 seems key in the transition to childbearing. Work–family conflicts and insufficient economic resources are the main reasons women and men give for not having their desired number of children. These are followed by partnership reasons (not having a stable partner) and health (infertility). Conclusions: Our findings, although descriptive, shed light on the multiple and age-varying obstacles that prevent women and men from achieving desired levels of fertility. Contribution: The Spanish population indicates that the most important preconditions for having (more) children are sufficient economic resources, stability, and having a partner.

Keywords: low fertility; Spain; fertility desires (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J1 Z0 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol51/19/51-19.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:dem:demres:v:51:y:2024:i:19

DOI: 10.4054/DemRes.2024.51.19

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Demographic Research from Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Editorial Office ().