October 10, 2017 | Defo News
Pension rates have an impact on the birth rate
© MPIDR
The new issue (Nr. 3/2017) of Demografische Forschung Aus Erster Hand, the popular science newsletter with latest research results from demography, has been released. (The Newsletter is available in German only.)
Topics of the 3/2017 issue:
1. Still walking down the aisle?
In Eastern Germany, women are more economically independent and non-marital birth is more common
Until the 1960s, the "Golden Age of Marriage" prevailed almost all over Europe: Those who wanted to form a family certainly got married first. But to what extent is this still valid today? It depends on the country and the social status and economic independence of the woman in question, a new MPIDR study shows.
2. Fewer children under Bismarck
Introduction of pension insurance reduced the rate of birth in the German Empire
The German Empire was the first European country to start transition to a modern welfare state. Bismarck introduced health and accident insurance, followed in 1891 by statutory pension insurance. Is it coincidence that the birth rate starts to decline right from then on? No, it is not, a new study by the Rostock Center for the Study of Demographic Change shows.
3. Large regional differences in Germany’s birth rate
The average number of children born inter alia depends on the place of residence
The final number of children born to women now in their mid- to late forties varies considerably among the 401 districts Germany has. This is shown for the first time ever by a joint study of the Federal Institute for Population Research and the Federal Statistical Office. Accordingly, birth-rate values depend on the availability of housing space, population density, gender ratio, and economic structure, among other things.
"Demografische Forschung Aus Erster Hand" is a joint publication of the Max Planck Institute for demographic Research (MPIDR), the Rostocker Zentrum zur Erforschung des Demografischen Wandels (RZ), the Vienna Institute of Demography (VID), the Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital and the Federal Institute for Population Research (BiB). The newsletter is released four times a year and is available electronically and as a printed version and is free of charge.
All past issues are available online on the Newsletter website. On the website you also have the possibility to subscribe to the Newsletter to get informed about the release of the new issues or to receive the printed versions by mail.