The Future of Our Living Together
Tuesday Dialogue Series of the Einstein Center Population Diversity
Falling birth rates: 5 policy options that help families
Tuesday, 5 November 2024, 13:00-14:00, CET (Zoom)
(with German-English simultaneous translation)
Prof. Dr. Martin Bujard
Research Director, Head of the Area “Family and Fertility” and Deputy Director of the Federal Institute for Population Research, Wiesbaden / Professor for Medical Sociology and Family Sociology at the Ruprecht Karls University of Heidelberg
Birth rates in Germany and Europe have fallen sharply in recent years. What has the role of current crises, such as the war in Ukraine, the coronavirus pandemic, inflation or climate change, been in this? What is the role of politics? Has the desire to have children also declined, or have births simply been postponed? In this talk, Martin Bujard will discuss monthly birth rates for the last three years in the context of various crises and the evolution of life satisfaction among young adults. Based on FReDA – The German Family Demography Panel Study, there is evidence that the desire to have children in Germany is significantly higher. He identifies five ways in which policies could better support families today and argues that if families are doing well, more young people will realise their desire to have children.
This event series is connected with the Einstein Center Population Diversity in Berlin. The Center will bring together top-level researchers working on this topic in a joint institution, and contribute to the international visibility of Germany as a research area. The Förderfonds Wissenschaft in Berlin supports this initiative.