Countries: Finland
Variables: BR-PRACTICE-1

"Kela's [Finland's taxpayer-funded social insurance agency] research manager, Anneli Miettinen, says historically, leaders of the Nordic countries — Finland, along with Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden — thought these [generous family] policies were helping to support relatively stable birth rates. 'So we cannot really any longer say that it's our good family policies that explain good fertility in the Nordics,' she said. Births have fallen across the region, with Finland's falling to the lowest rate among the five nations — down by a third since 2010" (para 20). Historically, Nordic countries have believed that their publicly funded benefits have explained their fertility rate, but since the rate has dropped significantly,...more

Countries: China
Variables: BR-PRACTICE-1

"[H]aving exhausted every other strategy to combat demographic decline, China will start paying women to have babies" (para 2). The low birth rate despite populaition decline intervention strategies indicates that small families are the norm and more acceptable in China than larger families (LEN - CODER COMMENT). "China’s National Healthcare Security Administration (NHSA) said the direct subsidies for childbirth, intended to cover 'living expenses paid to female employees during maternity leave,' would bring China one step closer to becoming a 'childbirth-friendly society'" (para 5). This demonstrates that China is currently not a child-birth friendly society and that large families are uncommon and may even be discouraged (LEN - CODER COMMENT)....more

Countries: Vietnam
Variables: BR-PRACTICE-1

"Vietnam has scrapped a longstanding policy limiting families to two children, as the communist-run country grapples with a declining birthrate. State media announced on Wednesday that couples could make their own decisions about how many children to have, and how much time to wait between births, reversing a decades-old preference for one- or two-child families. The promotion of two-child families dates back to the 1960s in communist North Vietnam, though this policy was further developed in the reunified Vietnam in the 1980s and 1990s, including through the country’s first decree on family planning in 1988. The two-child policy was not universally enforced, though members of the Communist party could face...more

Countries: Iran
Variables: BR-PRACTICE-1

"In recent years, a growing number of Iranian women have chosen to have fewer or no children -- mainly due to economic woes, changing gender roles, the growth of women's education, and family planning programs" (par. 11).

Countries: South Korea
Variables: BR-PRACTICE-1

"Neither she, nor any of her friends, are planning on having children. They are part of a growing community of women choosing the child-free life. South Korea has the lowest birth rate in the world, and it continues to plummet, beating its own staggeringly low record year after year" (par. 5-6).

Countries: United Kingdom
Variables: BR-PRACTICE-1

"Women focusing on their careers in their younger years has been blamed [for the falling birth rate], whilst others have pointed to the cost of living and of housing as factors" (para 4). "Numerous factors have been blamed for why fertility rates have collapsed in modern Britain. Some have cited how women are simply enjoying the independence society now offers them compared to a century ago and are choosing not to have children. In a similar trend some women may only choosing to have children later in life, and so fewer overall, and instead focus on their careers. For men, lifestyle factors like the rising prevalence of obesity in many...more

Countries: Peru
Variables: ATFPA-PRACTICE-1, BR-PRACTICE-1

"According to the National Survey on Social Relations (ENARES), which measures social tolerance towards violence against women, 54.7% of Peruvian men and women agree with the expression 'Every woman must first fulfill her role of mother, wife or housewife and then realize their own dreams'" (7-8).

Countries: Japan
Variables: BR-PRACTICE-1

“The Japanese government has begun to consult young people about their interest in marriage – or lack thereof – as Japan continues to struggle with a demographic crisis that is expected to result in a sharp population decline over the next decades” (para 1).

Countries: India
Variables: BR-PRACTICE-1

"A small family is now the norm in India, and with the annual population growth rate less than 1%, fears of population-driven collapse are no longer seen as realistic. In the 1950s, a woman in India would give birth to an average of over six children; today the national average is just over two and still continuing to fall" (para 8). "Instead, so far, the maternal expectations of Indian women have remained largely unchanged; the majority still get married by their early twenties, have two children while relatively young and then stop, often by opting for sterilisation" (para 44). "'No one of my generation wants to have more than two...more

Countries: North Korea
Variables: BR-PRACTICE-1

“Kim's latest appeal for women to have more children was made Sunday during the country’s National Mothers Meeting, the first of its kind in 11 years. ‘Stopping the decline in birthrates and providing good child care and education are all our family affairs that we should solve together with our mothers,’ Kim said in his opening speech” (para 3-4). “While North Korea is one of the poorest nations in the world, the change in its demographic structure is similar to that of rich countries, some observers say. Many families in North Korea also don't intend to have more than one child these days as they know they need lots of...more

Countries: China
Variables: BR-PRACTICE-1

"The party’s stringent response to Covid-19 also crystallized simmering political frustrations among some young people, with the catchphrase, “We are the last generation” – a refusal to bear children into the rigidly controlled Chinese state – becoming a rallying cry during Shanghai’s punishing two-month lockdown last spring" (para 10).

Countries: China
Variables: BR-PRACTICE-1

"[I]n 2013[,] couples [were allowed] to have two children if one of the spouses was an only child. In late 2015, the authorities announced all married couples could legally have two children" (pp 8). "The authorities further eased the birth limit in 2021, raising it to three children per couple" (pp 9).

Countries: South Korea
Variables: BR-PRACTICE-1

"Young Koreans have well-documented reasons not to start a family, including the staggering costs of raising children, unaffordable homes, lousy job prospects and soul-crushing work hours. But women in particular are fed up with this traditionalist society’s impossible expectations of mothers. So they’re quitting." (para 5). "But he’s got it backward — gender equality is the solution to falling birthrates. Many of the Korean women shunning dating, marriage and childbirth are sick of pervasive sexism and furious about a culture of violent chauvinism. Their refusal to be 'baby-making machines,' according to protest banners I’ve seen, is retaliation. 'The birth strike is women’s revenge on a society that puts impossible burdens...more

Countries: Mexico
Variables: BR-PRACTICE-1

"Leti Montalvo swooped up her tottering 16-month-old and perched him on her hip as she cooked eggs for her 9-year-old daughter, keeping her eyes on the six other children jumping outside on a trampoline. Their squeals competed with the banging on the second floor, where her husband was helping install a second bathroom. Thirteen people live in the house, eight under the age of 10." (Para.1).

Countries: Turkey
Variables: BR-PRACTICE-1

"In recent years, weddings of prosperous citizens in Turkey have sometimes featured a surprise guest: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. He likes to give advice to newlyweds about how many children to have. 'One is awkward; two is competitive; with three, there is balance; four means prosperity,' he told one couple. (Erdoğan himself has four children.) 'Birth control is treason,' he said to another, accusing birth control advocates of attempting to 'dry out our breed'". (para 1). "The findings had an immediate effect on the government’s rhetoric. On March 8, 2008, International Women’s Day, Erdoğan asked female supporters in the Anatolian town of Uşak to have three children. 'Those people...more