Offspring numbers fall

Time of crisis also reduces the desire to have children

Difficult times often have a negative impact on family planning.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/stock.adobe.com)

Crises are (also) influencing Austrians' desire to have children: in addition to factors such as partnerships and careers, the pandemic, war and the poor overall economic situation have also had an impact on plans to have children. In general, the number of offspring has fallen.

The desire to have children of their own has fallen among Austrians in recent years. While a woman gave birth to an average of 2.1 children in 2009, she only had 1.68 offspring in the period up to 2023. This is despite the fact that the total number of women between the ages of 18 and 45 has fallen by around eight percent.

The number of women who do not want a child at all, on the other hand, has more than tripled. This is shown by the "Generations and Gender" survey conducted by the Universities of Vienna and Salzburg and the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

On the other hand, the number of women who wish to have children has fallen even more significantly.

Bad times: Concerns about money and the future are affecting parents.(Bild: stock.adobe.com)

"According to preliminary estimates for the 1980s cohorts, childlessness will continue to increase and amount to 23 to 24 percent for those born in the 1990s," says researcher Tomáš Sobotka from the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

Among the previous motives, crises such as pandemics, war and inflation are now increasingly coming to the fore: just under a third of respondents have changed their desire to have children as a result (eleven percent) or are now unsure (19 percent). Only five percent of respondents would like to have more children than before all the crises.

Women and under-30s in particular have doubts
In general, more women than men are having second thoughts or doubts about having children due to the difficult times. People under 30 are also generally more likely to reconsider their desire to have children, as are those with a low or medium level of education.

Parents of two or more children in particular have changed their family planning due to the global crises - specifically 18% versus 12% of parents with one child. "Above all, the burden of price developments is strikingly high and is clearly linked to changes in the desire to have children," says researcher Isabella Buber-Ennser from the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

Compatibility makes the situation more difficult
Furthermore, factors such as the lack of compatibility between family and career continue to influence family planning: for three quarters of respondents, their job often or sometimes has a negative impact on family matters.

Single parents face greater problems than couples with children. According to scientists Lorenz Wurm and Norbert Neuwirth from the University of Vienna, this is probably "also due to the unbalanced intra-family division of labor with largely opposing employment levels among couples with children".

In a nutshell

• The "Generations and Gender Survey" was conducted by the University of Vienna in cooperation with the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) and the University of Salzburg.
• More than 8,000 people between the ages of 18 and 59 were surveyed between October 2022 and March 2023.

Working from home relieves mothers, stresses fathers
Labor and social law expert Wolfgang Mazal from the University of Vienna highlights two further changes: mothers predominantly state that working from home reduces stress, while the survey shows that it increases stress for fathers.

And: women and mothers largely no longer make the decision about the extent of their employment dependent on their partner. According to Mazal, the research results should be used "as an impetus to reflect on social conditions".