Contrary to the idea that only poor people “breed like rabbits” and rich people can afford one or two children, a study by Swedish scientists shows that the situation is exactly the opposite. According to their findings, families with the highest income tend to have more children. The researchers linked their findings to advances in Sweden's family policy and labor protection.
Rich big family is the new reality of Sweden
Stockholm University (Sweden) scientists have broken the rich people pay more attention to family planning , and usually "allowed" themselves to have no more than one or two children . Unlike previous research focusing on parents’ incomes at certain stages of their lives, such as after college, this time researchers analyzed the average income people earn over 40 years of life.
In addition, study participants were grouped by birth year, which made it possible to track the dynamics of the relationship between income levels and child birth. For men born after 1940, the relationship is positive and will only intensify over time: the more a person earns, the more children he will have. But low-income men often have no children at all.
As for women, things changed significantly over time: if low-income women had more children in the Swedes born in the 1940s and 1950s, then things changed. In other words, Swedish women born in the 1960s and 1970s were more likely to have two, three or even four children if they had high incomes.
At the same time, married couples with five or more children have an average income of less than couples with three or four children, but higher than couples without children. According to the researchers, the pattern we are seeing is shifting from a society where women have to some extent choose between career and childbirth, where they no longer need to make that choice.
Before, women with lower incomes had more children, while those who prefer careers and making money had fewer children. Now, thanks to financial assistance to families with multiple children and a developed preschool education system, mothers can build large families while having a successful career.
This study was published in the journal " Population Research ".
