Fertility, family, and social policy in contemporary Western Europe

Period total fertility rates are below replacement level in all Western European countries. Mediterranean countries, commonly labeled traditional, Catholic, and family oriented, exhibit the lowest fertility levels, whereas Sweden-the cradle of the modern liberal welfare state and the country in which empowerment of women is most fully realized-has the highest fertility in Western Europe. In seeking an explanation for the fertility differential, this note compares the status of women in Italy and Sweden and contrasts attitudes and policies toward the family in Italy and Germany with those in Britain and Sweden. The evidence suggests that in advanced industrial societies, higher status of women may be a precondition for raising fertility to replacement level.