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Home > Activities > Committees >Low Fertility (1999-2001) > Call for Papers

International Perspectives on Low Fertility: Trends, theories and policies

Tokyo, Japan, March 21-23, 2001
Organised by the IUSSP Working Group on Low Fertility and
the National Institute for Population and Social Security Research, Japan

Call for Papers

Low fertility has emerged as a vital area of demographic concern. At the time of survey by the uN Population Division in 1996, 23 governments considered that the fertility level in their country was too low and many are seeking policy approaches to address low fertility. At the narrowest end, the technical demography of low fertility is one of the most important features of the issue. The issue cannot be addressed without an understanding of cross-sections and cohorts, of timing issues and of parity progression rates. Beyond this narrow understanding, population scientists have been researching behavioural changes in relation to low fertility but theories of low fertility remain in the early stages of development and potential policy responses are at a correspondingly early stage.

It is evident that different countries have their own ways of arriving at low fertility. In Japan, for example, low fertility seems to be heavily related to a retreat from marriage and low rates of ex-nuptial fertility. Nearby, in Korea, low fertility is related to low fertility among married couples, again with little fertility outside marriage. In Southern Europe, low fertility seems to stem from extremely late marriage with little fertility outside marriage. In northern Europe, there is substantial fertility outside of marriage, but still there is low fertility. In Eastern Europe, economic conditions are evidently a part of the explanation. There are variations between countries in the parity distributions which are associated with low fertility – although common to most is an historically very low frequency of women having more than two children. It is clear that low fertility is not simply about some women having no children, but about many women having one or more less than they might otherwise have had.

There are strong indications that fertility preferences are below achieved fertility in most low fertility countries, that is, that large numbers of women are having fewer children than they would like to have, or than they would have liked to have had if asked when they were younger. Young women (under the age of 25 years) still express fertility preferences that average above replacement level. Women in their early 30s, however, generally express much lower preferences than those aged 20-24 years and the projected completed fertility of women in their thirties tends to be lower than their fertility preferences.

The conference will focus broadly on the issue of low fertility. We are seeking papers that:

Apply demographic methodologies to cross-national comparisons of low fertility, Describe and explain low fertility in particular national or regional settings and, Take a more theoretical approach to the explanation of low fertility.

In all cases, we are interested in papers that draw implications for policies to address low fertility.

The conference will include both invited and submitted papers. Full costs of attendance (travel, accommodation and per diem) will be met. The organisers invite submissions in the form of detailed abstracts (2-3 pages). Submissions should be sent to Peter McDonald (Peter.McDonald@anu.edu.au) The deadline for submission of papers is 30 September 2000.