Childlessness in Switzerland and Austria

Abstract

For several reasons, Switzerland and Austria are of interest to researchers analysing the factors that influence levels of childlessness. The countries are similar in terms of population size, standard of living, and socio-economic setting. The Alpine regions have traditionally had rather high levels of childlessness, with a significant proportion of women and men remaining single (Viazzo 1989). The current population of Switzerland is about 8.2 million, of whom 65 % are German-speaking, 23 % are French-speaking, and 8 % are Italian-speaking. As each canton has its own official religion and language(s), there are French-and German-speaking Catholic, Protestant, and secular cantons. In the age range 20-39 a third of the population has foreign citizenship. These immigrants come not only from the neighbouring countries of Germany, France, and Italy, but also from ex-Yugoslavia, Portugal, and Spain. Austria has a slightly larger population, at 8.6 million, and the official language is German, with 89 % of the population speaking German as their mother tongue. The proportion of foreigners in the country is less than half that of Switzerland, with immigrants from Germany and the countries of ex-Yugoslavia and Turkey being the most numerous. Around 20 % of women in Switzerland who have reached the end of their reproductive years have no children, while the corresponding figure in Austria is a little lower, at around 18 %. In Switzerland, the share M. Burkimsher (*) Independent researcher affiliated with the

Cohort fertility decline in low fertility countries: Decomposition using parity progression ratios

“…In the German-speaking countries, traditional social expectations towards mothers remained strong in the analysed cohorts: Working outside home when children are small is widely perceived as harmful to the children's development (Klüsener, Neels, and Kreyenfeld 2013) and, in line with that, public childcare for children below age three was very limited until recently (with the exception of Eastern Germany; e.g., Leitner 2010). Perhaps this is why low-family-size ideals, "child-free lifestyles", and the "culture of childlessness" gained greater popularity in Germany than in any other country (Sobotka and Testa 2008;Klüsener, Neels, and Kreyenfeld 2013;Burkimsher and Zeman 2017). In Italy, childcare still relies strongly on traditional family organisation (e.g., grand-parents taking care of the children), which has been weakening recently (De Rose, Racioppi, and Zanatta 2008).…”

Les origines du baby-boom en Suisse au prisme des parcours féminins

“…Pour les hommes, en revanche, le sens de la causalité semble inversé (Robert-Bobbée, 2006) voire inexistant (Keizer et al, 2008) en fonction des cohortes et des pays étudiés. En Suisse, les données du recensement de 2000 confirment la présence d'un gradient éducatif négatif de l'infécondité parmi les femmes des cohortes 1910-1941 (Burkhimsher & Zeman, 2017; chapitre 3) : les détentrices d'une formation tertiaire ont été, en moyenne sur l'ensemble de ces cohortes, 14% de plus que celles sans formation achevée à rester sans enfant. De manière opposée, le résultat inverse se dessine pour les hommes mais de façon moins marquée (l'écart oscillant autour de 5%) (Burkhimsher & Zeman, 2017, p. 122).…”

Exploring the childless universe: Profiles of women and men without children in Italy

“…As higher education has become more prevalent the reproductive behaviour of highly educated women has become less differentiated from that of less-educated women (Burkimsher and Zeman 2017). Not having a partner plays a key role in being childless in all birth cohorts (Berrington 2017;Jalovaara and Fasang 2017;Rotkirch and Miettinen 2017).…”

“…Nevertheless, in some countries childlessness is prevalent amongst less-educated women and amongst those who lack socioeconomic resources . In men, childlessness is usually associated with low educational attainment (Barthold, Myrskyla, and Jones 2012;Burkimsher and Zeman 2017;Köppen, Mazuy, and Toulemon 2017;Miettinen et al 2015;Rotkirch and Miettinen 2017).…”