Laboratory

Fertility and Well-Being

At a Glance Projects Publications Team

Project

COVID-19 and Family

Susie Lee, Natalie Nitsche, Joshua Wilde, Aiva Jasilioniene, Jessica Nisén, Mikko Myrskylä

Detailed Description

The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting childbearing and family processes around the globe. First studies have documented changes in couples’ fertility plans and work division within the household, or they predict fertility declines in high-income countries, based on now-casting methods. Yet, the pandemic’s impact on fertility, partnering, and family dynamics is rapidly evolving and remains the subject of much speculation.

In this project, we take various approaches, from forecasting future fertility effects of the pandemic, using Google Search data, to examining regional variations in the pandemic’s impact on fertility. Our works on multiple high-income countries, where fertility data became available first, already highlight heterogenous consequences of the pandemic on family formation processes at least in the short term. We have also contributed to research on the fertility effect of COVID-19, by organizing a first international conference on the topic in December 2021. We brought together more than 100 international researchers to present and discuss recent research on the impact and consequences of the pandemic for family and fertility. Based on this conference, a Population and Development Review Supplement co-sponsored by the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research and the Population Council is planned for publication in 2023.

Publications

Jung, M.; Lee, D. S.:

Subnational variations in births and marriages during the COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea

Demographic Research 48:30, 867–882. (2023)    

Nisén, J.; Jalovaara, M.; Rotkirch, A.; Gissler, M.:

Fertility recovery despite the COVID-19 pandemic in Finland?

Finnish Journal of Social Research 15:2022, 25–44. (2022)    

Nitsche, N.; Hudde, A.:

Countries embracing maternal employment opened schools sooner after Covid-19 lockdowns

MPIDR Working Paper WP-2022-008. (2022)    

Nitsche, N.; Jasilioniene, A.; Nisén, J.; Li, P.; Kniffka, M. S.; Schöley, J.; Andersson, G.; Bagavos, C.; Berrington, A.; Čipin, I.; Clemente, S.; Dommermuth, L.; Fallesen, P.; Galdauskaite, D.; Jemna, D.; Lerch, M.; McDonnell, C.; Muller, A.; Neels, K.; Pötzsch, O.; Ramiro, D.; Riederer, B.; te Riele, S.; Szabó, L.; Toulemon, L.; Vignoli, D.; Zeman, K.; Žnidaršič, T.:

Pandemic babies? Fertility in the aftermath of the first COVID-19 wave across European regions

MPIDR Working Paper WP-2022-027. (2022)    

Nitsche, N.; Lee, D. S.:

Emotion and fertility in times of disaster: conceptualizing fertility responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond

MPIDR Working Paper WP-2022-020. (2022)    

Wilde, J.; Chen, W.; Lohmann, S.:

COVID-19 and the future of US fertility: what can we learn from Google?

MPIDR Working Paper WP-2020-034. (2020)