A recent study by Eva Beaujouan and Caroline Berghammer looked at the fertility gap among women in 19 European countries and the United States. Their results indicate that on average, compared to earlier expectations and intentions, women had fewer children and were childless more often. Fertility gaps differed by country & education level, leading to possible structural explanations.

Gergő Baranyi and colleagues used data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) to assess longitudinal associations of neighbourhood nuisances and access to services with depression among older European adults. They found that those exposed to neighbourhood nuisances had a 36 per cent increased chance of developing depression.

Using longitudinal census and register data combined with childcare coverage rates for 588 municipalities in Belgium, Wood & Neels found that local formal childcare provision has a clear and substantial positive effect on the likelihood of having a child among dual-earner couples.

Glenn Sandström and Lena Karlsson used data from the Generations and Gender Survey and found that in countries considered more gender equal, those with a higher education are less likely to live alone. But in less gender equal countries, the opposite is true with higher educated people more likely to live alone.

Sarah Carol (University of Cologne) and Nadja Milewski (University of Rostock) carried out two studies that investigated the attitudes toward abortion among natives and immigrants living in cities in several European countries. Both studies revealed that there is large variation in the attitudes toward abortion among the inhabitants of Europe.

The growing demand for long-term care (LTC) and its adequate provision is one of the challenges of societies facing population ageing. The majority of care work in Europe is provided by family members and this demanding task can be a stressful experience for the person giving care. In a recent study, Melanie Wagner and Martina Brandt questioned whether the availability of regional formal care could contribute to improve the wellbeing of caregivers.

There is a lot of research about the role of social policies in fertility behaviour in contemporary societies particularly with a focus on work and family reconciliation policies. Much less, however, is known about how social policies affect fertility behaviour after separation. In a new study, Kreyenfeld et al. (2017) explore how union dissolution influences when people have a second child and how the impact varies by education and national policy context. Read more.