Content and Objectives

Compared with other countries, Germany – particularly western Germany – has one of the highest rates of childless women. Among the birth cohorts currently at the end of their fertile life stage, slightly more than 20 percent are childless. The increase in childlessness, alongside the declining percentage of third and more births, is partly responsible for the decline in the birth rate.

The project seeks to identify the causes of permanent childlessness and how it occurs over the life course. The focus is on the identification of determinants for the transition to the first child, based on secondary analyses of quantitative data. Furthermore, the interactions between (latent) desires to have children, the use of contraceptives and fertility are investigated. Also the question of the extent to which permanent childlessness is desired or unwanted plays a role. In light of an increasing mean age at first childbirth, fertility problems, as well as the limited possibilities to compensate for these problems through the use of reproductive medicine, are becoming increasingly important. In addition to analyses of the situation in Germany, international comparisons are also increasingly being conducted. Further to this, more longitudinal analyses as well as analyses within the couple context are planned. The SOEP, pairfam and GGS panels as well as official data serve as the empirical basis.