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Are Immigrants Maintaining Fertility Levels of their Home Countries?
To help societies in Europe combat their decreasing fertility rates, many see the immigrant populations as a potential solution to help alleviate the situation. However, this is not always reality. In a recent study, Allan Puur and colleagues give some evidence by examining childbearing behaviours of Russians in Estonia.
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Once a Barrier to Fertility, Women’s Employment Is Now Key to It.
The question of how work influences women’s fertility has been high on the demographic research agenda for decades. For a long time, the assumption was that higher labour force participation among women was negatively associated with fertility. In recent years, however, more and more researchers argue that this may no longer be true. 

The question of how work influences women’s fertility has been high on the demographic research agenda for decades. For a long time, the assumption was that higher labour force participation among women was negatively associated with fertility. In recent years, however, more and more researchers argue that this may no longer be true. The argument goes that the expansion of reconciliation policies and changing gender roles have decreased the opportunity costs associated with childbearing, which leads to a positive relationship between female employment and fertility in dual-earner societies. Being out of the labour force may be perceived as a cheap time for childbearing, but lacking employment in a dual-earner society can yield feelings of nonfulfillment, prevent leaving the parental home, postpone union formation, and hamper the accumulation of the resources necessary to face the costs of family formation.

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Working, Studying and Starting a Family
Over the course of the past few decades, women’s enrolment in post-secondary educational programmes has dramatically increased. The fertility implications have been well documented, but the studies generally assume that a student is only a student. Zsolt Spéder and Tamás Bartus sought to understand the impact double-status (studying part-time and working part-time at the same time) may have on the transition to motherhood. It turns out, their interest was well founded. They found the fertility implications of double-status women to be notable.
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News: New Appointments to the ESCR Council
Population Europe Experts Prof. Jane Falkingham & Prof. Melinda Mills
The UK Minister of State for Universities and Science appointed the experts from Population Europe Professor Jane Falkingham (University of Southampton) and Professor Melinda Mills (University of Oxford) as Council members for the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).
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News: Educated women aren‘t realising their fertility intentions
This gap is space for policy reform
Population ageing will continue to be one of Europe’s biggest long-term policy challenges in coming decades. Older populations have many advantages, but they also have very concrete costs—most notably on pensions, one of the foundations of modern-day welfare states. Longer lives, the result of better health and nutrition, is certainly part of the equation, but this can hardly be qualified as a problem. No, Europe is ageing, and—despite our intentions—low fertility is the reason. Low fertility is also the result of positive developments.
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The Changing Link Between Fertility, Gender, and Career in Europe
The role of income and employment on fertility patterns has already been extensively explored in the existing literature. However, empirical evidence for such effects is surprisingly scarce for Switzerland. In this recent study, Doris Hanappi, Valérie-Anne Ryser and Laura Bernardi examine the way perceived job quality is associated with the intention to have a child for men and women in Switzerland.
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News: Children of older mothers do better
New MPIDR study
Children of older mothers are healthier, taller and obtain more education than the children of younger mothers, a new study from the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) in Rostock finds. Mikko Myrskylä, MPIDR-Director, and his colleague Kieron Barclay from the London School of Economics and Political Science conclude that the reason for this surprising finding is the continuous increase of educational opportunities and good health for people in industrialised countries.
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