Federal Institute for Population Research

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Einsame junge Frau steht auf Seebrücke und schaut in die Ferne (refer to: Loneliness: Especially younger people are feeling increasingly lonely) | Source: © fotoduets/stock.adobe.com

FReDA Policy BriefLoneliness: Especially younger people are feeling increasingly lonely

In the last five years, the feeling of loneliness has increased in Germany. Today, one in three people between the ages of 18 and 53 feels lonely at least some of the time – including many younger people under 30, as new BiB analyses show.

Miscellaneous PublicationsDoes women’s agency matter in the formation and realization of fertility desires? An empirical investigation in Egypt and Jordan

Friedrich, Carmen (2023)

BiB Working Paper 7/2023. Wiesbaden: Bundesinstitut für Bevölkerungsforschung

This study investigates whether the agency of women in Egypt and Jordan influences their personal ideal number of children and their ability to have no more children than they desire. Moreover, a “couple’s perspective” is adopted by examining whether the relationship between women’s agency and unwanted births persists even when the husband desires more children than his wife. The study uses data from the 2015 Egypt Health Issues Survey (EHIS) and the 2017-2018 Jordan Population and Family Health Survey (JPFHS). Poisson regressions are used to estimate the association between agency and fertility desires, and linear probability models are used to estimate the association between agency and the ability to have no more children than desired. The results indicate negative associations between women’s decision-making power and their personal ideal number of children in Egypt, but not in Jordan. In both countries, being involved in decisions about their own healthcare is positively associated with women’s ability to have no more children than desired. However, this positive association is not evident when the husband wants more children than his wife. Among such couples, women’s agency is negatively associated with avoiding unwanted births.

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