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A review of policies and practices related to the 'highest-low' fertility of Sweden

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  • Gunnar Andersson

Abstract

This article reviews research on the role social and family policies play for fertility in Sweden. Swedish family policies are not directly aimed at encouraging childbirth. Their main goal has rather been to support women's participation in the labour force and to promote gender equality. They focus on enabling individuals to pursue their family and occupational pathways without being too dependent on other persons. The following measures have helped women to reconcile family and working life: individual taxation and individual-based socialsecurity systems, which make gendered segregation of work and care less attractive for couples; an income replacement-based parental-leave system, which gives women incentives to establish themselves on the labour market before considering childbirth; and subsidised child care, which allows women to return to work after parental leave. Fertility has fluctuated during recent decades but--as in the other Nordic countries with similar welfare state setups -it has remained well above the European average. The Swedish institutional context clearly is conducive to such 'highest-low' fertility. My review documents the importance of institutional factors in shaping childbearing behaviour and demonstrates some specific impacts of family policies on demographic behaviour.

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  • Gunnar Andersson, 2008. "A review of policies and practices related to the 'highest-low' fertility of Sweden," Vienna Yearbook of Population Research, Vienna Institute of Demography (VID) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, vol. 6(1), pages 89-102.
    • Handle: RePEc:vid:yearbk:v:6:y:2008:i:1:p:89-102
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Peter McDonald, 2000. "Gender Equity in Theories of Fertility Transition," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 26(3), pages 427-439, September.
    2. Gunnar Andersson, 2000. "The Impact of Labour-Force Participation on Childbearing Behaviour: Pro-Cyclical Fertility in Sweden during the 1980s and the 1990s," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 16(4), pages 293-333, December.
    3. Jan M. Hoem, 2005. "Why does Sweden have such high fertility?," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2005-009, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    4. Gunnar Andersson & Kirk Scott, 2007. "Childbearing dynamics of couples in a universalistic welfare state," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 17(30), pages 897-938.
    5. Jan M. Hoem, 2005. "Why does Sweden have such high fertility?," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 13(22), pages 559-572.
    6. Gunnar Andersson & Kirk Scott, 2007. "Childbearing dynamics of couples in a universalistic welfare state: the role of labor-market status, country of origin, and gender," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2007-016, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    7. Gunnar Andersson, 2004. "Childbearing Developments in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden from the 1970s to the 1990s: A Comparison," Demographic Research Special Collections, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 3(7), pages 155-176.
    8. Tomas Frejka & Gerard Calot, 2001. "Cohort Reproductive Patterns in the Nordic Countries," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 5(5), pages 125-186.
    9. Gunnar Andersson, 1999. "Childbearing Trends in Sweden 1961--1997," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 15(1), pages 1-24, March.
    10. Ronald Rindfuss & David Guilkey & S. Morgan & Øystein Kravdal & Karen Guzzo, 2007. "Child care availability and first-birth timing in Norway," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 44(2), pages 345-372, May.
    11. Gunnar Andersson, 2002. "Fertility developments in Norway and Sweden since the early 1960s," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 6(4), pages 67-86.
    12. Britta Hoem, 2000. "Entry into motherhood in Sweden," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 2(4).
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    Cited by:

    1. Tomáš Sobotka, 2013. "Fertility and Public Policy: How to Reverse the Trend of Declining Birth Rates," Population Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 67(2), pages 249-252, July.
    2. Ari Klængur Jónsson, 2017. "Childbearing trends in Iceland, 1982–2013: Fertility timing, quantum, and gender preferences for children in a Nordic context," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 37(7), pages 147-188.
    3. Elena SOLDAN & Olga GAGAUZ, 2018. "Fertility Dynamics In Sweden, Spain, The Czech Republic And Ukraine: A Cohorte Perspective," ECONOMY AND SOCIOLOGY: Theoretical and Scientifical Journal, Socionet;Complexul Editorial "INCE", issue 2, pages 76-87.
    4. Elizabeth Thomson & Trude Lappegård & Marcia Carlson & Ann Evans & Edith Gray, 2014. "Childbearing Across Partnerships in Australia, the United States, Norway, and Sweden," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 51(2), pages 485-508, April.
    5. Thea van Roode & Katrina Sharples & Nigel Dickson & Charlotte Paul, 2017. "Life-Course Relationship between Socioeconomic Circumstances and Timing of First Birth in a Birth Cohort," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(1), pages 1-16, January.
    6. Ari Klængur Jónsson, 2018. "Family policies, childbearing, and economic crisis: The case of Iceland," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 39(19), pages 561-592.
    7. Karin Lundström & Gunnar Andersson, 2012. "Labor-market status, migrant status and first childbearing in Sweden," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 27(25), pages 719-742.

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