Childbearing Trends and Policies in Europe

Tomas Frejka, Independent consultant
Jan Hoem, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research
Laurent Toulemon, Institut National d'Études Démographiques (INED)

This paper will present selected findings and conclusions of an international comparative project of 18 countries, which is coordinated by the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research. A book of country and summary chapters is to be published in 2007. The central topics include: effects of political systems on childbearing behavior; fertility during the transition from autocratic to democratic systems in central and Eastern Europe; principal determinants of fertility decline at younger ages; childbearing postponement; changing parity distributions and family size norms; changing family and changing living arrangements; migration and fertility; effectiveness of family-related policies; convergence or diversity in childbearing behavior; possible emergence of a new demographic disequilibrium.