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In East Germany, childlessness was below 10 percent before reunification, while West Germany witnessed a steady and substantial increase in the proportion of childless women, with proportions reaching over 20 percent. This paper describes these divergent developments based on micro-census data. We examine the social policy contexts that shaped women’s work and family patterns before reunification. Moreover, we discuss more recent trends and policy reforms, in particular the expansion of childcare and the parental leave benefit reform of 2007. Although family and employment patterns have become similar in eastern and western Germany, distinct behavioral patterns have prevailed. Even today, childlessness is more common in western than in eastern Germany. Furthermore, East German women regularly work full-time, while maternal full-time employment is only gradually increasing in the western parts of Germany.
Der Beitrag untersucht den Zusammenhang von Bildung und Familienform
auf Basis des deutschen Mikrozensus 1996–2012. Es zeigt sich, dass sich in Westdeutschland eine positive Beziehung zwischen Bildungsniveau und nichtehelichem Zusammenleben mit zunehmender Verbreitung dieser Lebensform umgekehrt hat. Es wird zudem deutlich, dass im Westen Deutschlands bildungshomogene Paare am oberen Ende der Bildungsskala die Pioniere der Verbreitung nichtehelicher Lebensgemeinschaften mit Kindern waren. In Ostdeutschland zeigen sich andere Muster als in Westdeutschland.
This open access book provides an overview of childlessness throughout Europe. It offers a collection of papers written by leading demographers and sociologists that examine contexts, causes, and consequences of childlessness in countries throughout the region.The book features data from all over Europe. It specifically highlights patterns of childlessness in Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Finland, Sweden, Austria and Switzerland. An additional chapter on childlessness in the United States puts the European experience in perspective. The book offers readers such insights as the determinants of lifelong childlessness, whether governments can and should counteract increasing childlessness, how the phenomenon differs across social strata and the role economic uncertainties play. In addition, the book also examines life course dynamics and biographical patterns, assisted reproduction as well as the consequences of childlessness. Childlessness has been increasing rapidly in most European countries in recent decades. This book offers readers expert analysis into this issue from leading experts in the field of family behavior. From causes to consequences, it explores the many facets of childlessness throughout Europe to present a comprehensive portrait of this important demographic and sociological trend.
Analyzing Childlessness
(2017)
Childlessness has been on the rise in many European societies. In Germany, the UK, Austria, the Netherlands, and Switzerland, childlessness has increased starting with the 1950s cohorts. In these countries, about 20 % of the women born around 1965 will remain childless. In southern Europe and the former state-socialist countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the rise in levels of childlessness is a more recent phenomenon. Yet among younger cohorts in these countries, childlessness has reached levels of 15 % or higher. In this introductory chapter, we summarize the long-term trends in childlessness and discuss the differences between European countries in the prevalence of childlessness. We also outline the structure and the logic of this volume.
This chapter provides an overview of the long-term trends in childlessness in East and West Germany. Based on vital statistics, census, and micro-census data we show that for the East German cohorts born in 1940–1964 the share who have remained childless has stalled at around 10 %. For the same cohorts in West Germany, we find that the share who are childless has increased from 10 % to about 20 %. We furthermore describe socio-economic disparities in the childlessness levels of West German birth cohorts based on our analysis of data from the German Family Panel (pairfam). We find that higher levels of female education are associated with higher levels of childlessness, but that differences by education have narrowed among women of recent birth cohorts. For men, we find a clear negative gradient in childlessness, as less educated men are more likely to be childless than their better educated counterparts. Finally, having a turbulent partnership history is shown to be associated with a high probability of remaining childless.
Dieser Beitrag gibt auf Basis der Daten des Mikrozensus einen Überblick über den Wandel der Familienformen in Deutschland. Es wird untersucht, inwieweit alleinerziehende, nichteheliche und eheliche Familien sozialstrukturell differenziert sind und in welchem Ausmaß sich die ökonomische Lebenslage der verschiedenen Familienformen unterscheidet.
Second Birth Fertility in Germany: Social Class, Gender, and the Role of Economic Uncertainty
(2023)
Building on a thick strand of the literature on the determinants of higher-order births, this study uses a gender and class perspective to analyse second birth progression rates in Germany. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel from 1990 to 2020, individuals are classified based on their occupation into: upper service, lower service, skilled manual/higher-grade routine nonmanual, and semi-/unskilled manual/lower-grade routine nonmanual classes. Results highlight the “economic advantage” of men and women in service classes who experience strongly elevated second birth rates. Finally, we demonstrate that upward career mobility post-first birth is associated with higher second birth rates, particularly among men.