The Nordic population registers provide a unique possibility to study the demographic behavior of very small population groups and rare events. In this paper, we study the childbearing behavior of Swedish mothers of twins between 1961 and 1999, inclusive. Our most consistent finding is that...

Gender preferences may have substantial implications for a couple’s fertility behavior. However, there is only limited empirical research investigating this subject in modern Western societies. In this paper, data from the Fertility and Family Surveys are used to compare 17 European...

We present and prove a formula for decomposing change in a population average into two components. One component captures the effect of direct change in the characteristic of interest, and the other captures the effect of compositional change. The decomposition is applied to time derivatives of...

The purpose of this paper is to study very early retirement as an indicator for poor health, with focus on a comparison between the two language groups in Finland. Extensive longitudinal data are analysed with the help of random effects probit models. As expected from previous studies of...

We evaluate the consistency of age-specific mortality patterns for older Americans using the Health Care Financing Administration´s (HCFA’s) Medicare Enrollment Data Base (EDB), a data set that includes over 30 million records. To do this, we compare the mortality curves across regions...

Life expectancy is overestimated if mortality is declining and underestimated if mortality is increasing. This is the fundamental claim made by Bongaarts and Feeney (2002) in their article "How Long Do We Live?", where they base their claim on arguments about "tempo effects on mortality". This...

The article deals with Russian population estimates since 1897 and prospects to the end of the XXI century. Concept of demographic potential is used to examine past trends and project future tendencies. Dramatic disturbances of the past century hampered population growth and brought the...

Previous studies show that family migration is usually to the benefit of the man’s professional career and that it has a negative impact on the woman’s economic well-being and employment. This study extends previous research by examining the effect of family migration on union...

In this paper we describe the Bulgarian statistical system that provides unique research possibilities for demographic analyses. In particular, we review the methodology, structure and informational flows for population registration and the registration of vital events in Bulgaria. In addition,...

The recent rapid increase in divorce, along with its distinctive cultural and welfare environments for single-parent families, makes Korea an interesting case for examining effects of single parenthood on children’s education. Using data from Korean 9th and 12th graders, I compare the...