Fertility intentions in Italy during the Covid-19 Pandemic. Evidence from the Familydemic survey

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic crisis led to sharp changes in social, work and family organisation, which may have had consequences for individuals’ reproductive choices. We use data collected between July and September 2021 to examine changes in fertility intentions induced by the pandemic in Italy. Our findings do not reveal a generalized and substantial decline in respondents’ fertility intentions, who, in the vast majority of cases, confirmed their pre-pandemic fertility intentions. However, parents with at least one child under 12 emerged as those more likely to experience a decline in their reproductive intentions. Also, our findings reveal how the upheaval caused by the pandemic resulted in different distributions of unpaid work within couples, with different fertility implications: those who moved towards a more unequal distribution reported a stronger reduction in fertility intentions compared to those who benefited from the opportunity to rebalance domestic responsibilities towards a more equal distribution.