Attitudes towards childbearing, population, and the environment: prevalence, correlates, and connections with fertility outcomes in Sweden

Abstract

Environmental concerns may influence personal fertility decisions and general opinions about childbearing and population dynamics, but research on this topic remains scarce. In two analyses based on large Swedish datasets (the Gender and Generation Survey [GGS], N = 8027, and a survey designed for this project, N = 683), we examine the connection between climate change worry and fertility outcomes and compare the prevalence of various concerns, behaviors, and opinions about the environment, childbearing, and population. We find little evidence that environmental concerns have a notable connection with fertility outcomes, but many people perceive a link between childbearing and environmental problems. Most respondents think environmental considerations should influence people’s decisions to have children—based on considerations regarding both the hypothetical child’s future life conditions and the potential environmental impacts of childbearing—and see global population growth as a problem. A substantial minority thinks that measures should be introduced to limit population size, both domestically and in developing countries. We examine how such eco-reproductive concerns and behaviors vary with key demographic and psychological factors emphasized in previous research on fertility and/or environmentalism. The findings showed that eco-reproductive concerns correlate with attitudinal variables (climate change worry, less climate change denial, conservative attitudes, and low political trust), while eco-reproductive behavior is linked with other forms of environmental behaviors and with life circumstances (being younger, not being in a relationship). Our main conclusion is that environmental considerations are influencing views on population and childbearing, but we see no clear evidence of their impact on childbearing decisions in Sweden.