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Tomass Nielsen, Tallinn University
Martin Klesment, Tallinn University
This paper examines how competing demands for time and financial resources, otherwise known as care-capacity, for young- and middle aged adults’ is associated with fertility. We hypothesise that individuals who have care obligations, e.g. simultaneously caring for elderly parents and dependent children, are less likely to have more children. We analyse this question using data from the Generations & Gender Survey (GGS). Using the longitudinal design of the GGS, we analyse the respondents’ likelihood of having another child between the two waves. We find that the group of young adults who reported that they provide care also for others besides their children had a lower likelihood of having another child compared with those who were not engaged in providing care. Our proxy measure of increased direct care burden, having a parent with activity limitations, however did not prove a significant predictor. Thus, we cannot conclude that it is specifically the exposure to caring for elderly parents that is likely to reduce fertility.
Keywords: Fertility and childbirth, Life course analysis, Population ageing, Cross-country comparative analyses