Childlessness and the marriage market

Pauline Rossi

No 2026-07, Working Papers from Center for Research in Economics and Statistics

Abstract: Long overlooked, childlessness is set to become a crucial topic in demography. It is linked to heated debates about ultra-low fertility among women and involuntary celibacy among men. In this article, I present key facts on female and male childlessness using large-scale surveys in 117 countries. The proportion of men who never have children is higher than that of women in most contexts. To understand why, I explore the role of general equilibrium effects on the marriage market: can a man be involuntarily childless due to a relative shortage of female partners? I summarize the results of three projects examining skewed sex ratios in Asia, polygamy in Africa and serial monogamy (divorce and remarriage) in Europe. I conclude that market features are quantitatively important drivers of gender gaps in childlessness, supporting the premise that the marriage market shapes reproductive inequalities in ways that deserve more exploration.

Keywords: Fertility; Childlessness; Marriage Market; Sex ratio; Polygamy; Divorce (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 37 pages
Date: 2026-07-07
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