The world is pervaded by the cultural belief that children are critical for life fulfilment and happiness, especially for women. In fact, the majority of research demonstrates the opposite: Parents are not as happy as childless people. A study by Rachel Margolis and Mikko Myrskylä now sheds new light on that paradox: All around the globe, young parents are unhappier than young adults without children. At older ages, however, the association reverses and the existence of children in these later years brings greater happiness. Moreover, how strongly children affect happiness is influenced by the type of welfare regime in the respective countries.
Analysing the characteristics of over 200.000 women and men across 86 countries, collected from 1981 to 2005 (World Values Survey), the authors of the study reveal one common finding: Childless people are generally happier than people with children (figure 1, black line). This finding confirms earlier studies covering smaller regions and single countries.
Children as a long-term investment in happiness
However, the picture is more complex: On the one hand, the satisfaction of parents in general decreases with the number of children they have had. On the other hand, parents’ happiness critically depends on their age (figure 1, blue and orange lines). Whereas young parents aged 15 to 29 are unhappier than their childless counterparts, parents above age 40 generally feel better than their childless contemporaries. The positive link between children and happiness is strongest for those aged 50 and older, among which those with three children are happiest. Regardless of whether an individual is male or female, high-income or low-income, healthy or ill –a positive relationship between children and wellbeing exists at higher ages.
Overall, children seem to be more taxing when they and their parents are young, especially if there are many of them. With the increasing age of parents and children, the burden in terms of time, money, and care lessens and there seems to be more room for enjoying parenthood. Later in life, when parents are older, children seem to bring happiness to their parents and their wellbeing surpasses that of older childless adults.
Family policies influence the loss of wellbeing at younger ages
The age effect is highly dependent on the political framework: The happiness of young and middle-aged parents, in particular, who live in countries with less established or weaker welfare systems (these include developing and former socialist countries, liberal as well as Southern European countries) considerably decreases as the number of children increases (Figure 2, left). Southern Europeans who have four or more children are particularly unhappier than parents with at least four children in other contexts.
In contrast, differences in happiness between parents and non-parents are quite small in conservative countries with traditionally strong welfare systems. In the social democratic countries of Northern Europe, people with three or four children are even happier than their peers with fewer offspring. In both conservative and social democratic countries, family-friendly policies seem to limit the burden of early childrearing. These results indicate that public assistance during the family building process is crucial for the wellbeing of young parents.
Family policies determine the gain in wellbeing at older ages
With increasing age, the roles of parents and children may change: Older parents could be in need of care and support, as physical or mental impairments become more probable. At that point in life, the existence of children is more relevant for the wellbeing of parents – but this again depends on the strength of the public support system. In former socialist and Southern European countries, children seem to substitute the limited availability of care services for the older population by caring themselves, so parents with children are better off compared to childless persons (Figure 2, right). In conservative or social democratic countries, on the contrary, the existence of children for assisting their parents is not as important, since care at older ages is better provided by public institutions. Hence, parents in these countries are as happy as non-parents or even slightly unhappier.
This Population Digest has been published with financial support from the Progress Programme of the European Union in the framework of the project “Supporting a Partnership for Enhancing Europe’s Capacity to Tackle Demographic and Societal Change”.