Fertility, Family, and Social Policy in Contemporary Western Europe

Period total fertility rates are below replacement level in all Western European countries. Mediterranean countries, commonly labeled traditional, Catholic, and family oriented, exhibit the lowest fertility levels, whereas Sweden--the cradle of the modern liberal welfare state and the country in whi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Population and development review 1996-12, Vol.22 (4), p.729-739
Main Author: Chesnais, Jean-Claude
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Children
Countries
Demographic Change
Demographics
Demography
Europe, West
European Union
Family
Family Policy
Female fertility
Fertility
Fertility Decline
Fertility rates
Gender equality
Italy
Mothers
Notes and Commentary
Population
Public Policy
Rates
Relationship
Replacement levels
Social aspects
Social Attitudes
Social Change
Social Policy
Social research
Status
Sweden
Western Europe
Women
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Description
Summary:Period total fertility rates are below replacement level in all Western European countries. Mediterranean countries, commonly labeled traditional, Catholic, and family oriented, exhibit the lowest fertility levels, whereas Sweden--the cradle of the modern liberal welfare state and the country in which empowerment of women is most fully realized--has the highest fertility in Western Europe. In seeking an explanation for the fertility differential, this note compares the status of women in Italy and Sweden and contrasts attitudes and policies toward the family in Italy and Germany with those in Britain and Sweden. The evidence suggests that in advanced industrial societies, higher status of women may be a precondition for raising fertility to replacement level.
ISSN:0098-7921
1728-4457
DOI:10.2307/2137807