MPIDR Working Paper

Fertility and union histories from German GGS data: some critical reflections

Kreyenfeld, M. R., Hornung, A., Kubisch, K., Jaschinski, I.
MPIDR Working Paper WP-2010-023, 28 pages.
Rostock, Max-Planck-Institut für demografische Forschung (März 2010)
Revised November 2010
Open Access

Abstract

This paper validates the fertility and union histories of the German Generations and Gender Survey (GGS). One major result from this validation is that the fertility of the older GGS-cohorts is too low, while it is too high for the younger cohorts. For partnership histories, we find a similar bias. In sum, the GGS gives wrong cohort fertility and marriage trends for Germany. We speculate on various sources for this bias in the data. However, we were unable to find a remedy to cure it.

Schlagwörter: Deutschland, fertility
Das Max-Planck-Institut für demografische Forschung (MPIDR) in Rostock ist eines der international führenden Zentren für Bevölkerungswissenschaft. Es gehört zur Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, einer der weltweit renommiertesten Forschungsgemeinschaften.