engleski

Pandemic babies? The fertility response to the first COVID-19 wave across European Regions

As expected, birth rates have been affected across high-income countries in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic. Initial studies reported heterogeneous fertility responses across countries. Yet, country level assessments may mask important regional variation and paint an imprecise average picture. Regional level analyses are thus needed to deepen our understanding of the fertility response to Covid-19. Our study fills this gap. We conducted a rigorous data collection effort in 24 European countries, and report how the first pandemic wave affected birth rates across European sub-national regions. We find large sub-national regional variation in the birth rate response between December 2020 and May 2021, with more pronounced variation in countries with lower Covid-19- mortality rates during the first wave. Future analyses will formally assess regional heterogeneity in the fertility response within countries, and examine whether regional fertility response variation is predicted by regional Covid-19 infection-rates or economic indicators.

regional fertility ; pandemic ; monthly birth rates

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