Norway

Since 2010, fertility levels have declined unexpectedly in all Nordic countries, with record lows being reached in recent years. The reasons for these declines are unclear, except that fewer people are becoming parents. The aim of this study was to investigate whether changes in housing tenure played a role in the declined entry into parenthood. We expected that changes in housing tenure, particularly a decline in homeownership related to housing affordability challenges among young adults, may have contributed to this decline. Using harmonized Nordic individual-level register data, we assessed to what extent changes in housing tenure, changes in fertility behavior within tenure groups, or both, contributed to the decline. Discrete-time event history models and multivariate decomposition were applied. According to our results, homeownership among young adults declined in the 2010s in Denmark and Finland – but not in Sweden or Norway. The decline in first births was only partially attributable to compositional change in housing tenure along with other socioeconomic factors in Denmark, Finland and Sweden. Entry into parenthood declined among women, regardless of their tenure status, in all four countries during the 2010s, suggesting the importance of behavioral changes. However, the decline was more pronounced among renters than homeowners.

Highlights The heritability of fertility behavior altered during the profound societal changes that occurred from the 1950s onward in Norway. Societal changes modify the heritability of age at first birth and number of children, and the change in heritability varies by gender and outcome. A theoretical explanation that suggests norms weakened and opportunities broadened across the latter part of the twentieth century and into the early twenty-first century, thereby increasing heritability, falls short. Results provide some support for the hypothesis that the importance of genes increases during periods of societal change, when linked to the transition to dualearner families and family policy implementation. The study highlights the importance of considering societal structures and gender differences when investigating genetic influences on fertility behavior.

Abstract The Nordic countries of Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Finland were among the first countries to acknowledge same‐sex couples’ partnership and parenthood rights in their legislation. We explore trends over time in the share of female same‐sex and different‐sex couples that have children following their legal union and variation by socioeconomic status. Using harmonized register data, we assess couples’ likelihood of having a child over time, with a focus on education and income. We find strong increases in female couples’ likelihood of having a child, resulting in a sharply increasing prevalence, approaching near parity with different‐sex couples in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway around 2010. Finland diverges from the other countries in terms of its later and less steep increase. Higher education is associated with a higher likelihood of having a child, whereas we find a less clear gradient by income level. The results suggest that legal changes, together with more supportive wider cultural and normative societal environments, have made same‐sex parenthood more achievable in the Nordic countries. These changes are concurrent with the observed increase in parenthood. Following this increase, female couples today are nearly as likely as different‐sex couples to have children within a legal union.

This study examines whether social parenting-living with a child's biological parent but not being biologically related to the child-is linked to remaining childless among men and women in Norway. It offers a novel overview of the complexity of partnership histories that include social parenting and whether different types of such histories are associated with childlessness. Using Norwegian register data for the 1980 birth cohort, we reconstruct annual partnership histories from ages 25 to 41 and identify five trajectory clusters with sequence analysis. We then estimate linear probability models of being childless at age 42 and assess differences by sex and economic uncertainty, as measured by unstable employment and insecure income history. Individuals in social-parenting clusters experience a higher probability of childlessness, especially those with complex, less stable histories and later partnership entry. Men in social-parenting clusters show higher childlessness than comparable women, and economic insecurity further elevates childlessness, particularly among men.

Abstract We examined how several health variables were associated with mothers’ probability of having a second or third child and the timing of the second birth. Data from the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) and linked registers were used. Parents with certain potentially chronic health problems before or in pregnancy were less likely than others to have an additional (especially a second) child, net of differences in relationship status, education, and economic resources. Some pregnancy‐related and largely temporary health problems during the most recent previous pregnancy and adverse birth experiences were associated with reduced probabilities of a second or third birth, or both, as was generally poor physical health six months after birth and postnatal depression. The latter health indicators may reflect health implications of pregnancy, delivery, and having a relatively “demanding” young child, as well as underlying health problems. Only a few estimates suggested associations between indicators of potentially chronic health problems of the most recently born child and subsequent fertility, but fertility was reduced among one‐child mothers whose first child had colic and among one‐ and two‐child mothers whose most recently born child slept little. Possible reasons for and implications of these health–fertility associations are discussed.