(ORDO NEWS) — Contrary to the notion that only the poor “breed like rabbits”, and wealthy people can afford one or two children, a study by scientists from Sweden showed the opposite.
According to their findings, families with the highest incomes tend to have more children. The researchers linked their findings to advances in Swedish family policy and labor protection.
Scientists from Stockholm University (Sweden) have broken the stereotype that wealthy people are more careful about family planning and usually “allow” themselves to have no more than one or two children.
Unlike previous studies that looked at the income of parents at certain points in their lives (for example, after graduating from university), this time the researchers analyzed how much people earned on average over 40 years of life.
Additionally, the study participants were divided into groups according to the year of birth, which made it possible to track the dynamics in the relationship between the level of income and the birth of children.
For men born after 1940, the relationship turned out to be positive and only intensified over time: the more a man earned, the more children he had. But men with low incomes often remained childless altogether.
As for women, the picture has noticeably changed among them over time: if among Swedes born in the 1940s and 1950s, women with low incomes had more children, then the situation changed.
In other words, Swedish women born in the 1960s and 1970s were more likely to have two, three or even four children if they earned a lot.
At the same time, the average income of married couples with five or more children was lower than that of couples with three or four children, but higher than that of the childless.
According to the researchers, the pattern we are seeing is a shift from a society in which women had to some extent choose between a career and having children, to a society in which they no longer have to make that choice.
Previously, women with lower incomes had more children, while those who preferred a career and making money had fewer.
Now, thanks to the provision of financial assistance to families with many children and a developed system of preschool education, mothers can successfully pursue a career and at the same time build large families.
—
Online:
Contact us: [email protected]
Our Standards, Terms of Use: Standard Terms And Conditions.