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

Mariona Lozano, Albert Esteve, Diederik Boertien, Ryohei Mogi and Qi Cui

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

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.

JEL-codes: J13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 12 pages
Date: 2024-09-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published in Demographic Research, 10, September, 2024, 51, pp. 625 - 636. ISSN: 1435-9871

Downloads: (external link)
http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/125484/ Open access version. (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:ehl:lserod:125484

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library LSE Library Portugal Street London, WC2A 2HD, U.K.. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by LSERO Manager ().