Parental Leave Policy Influence on Fertility Rates: The Importance of Social Contexts on German and Swedish Reform with the United States as a Reference

Abstract

Low fertility is an issue that is troubling many developed countries in Europe. In 2014, the average fertility rate for nations within the European Union (EU) was 1.58 live births per woman, which is well below the replacement rate of 2.1 needed to maintain a constant population size (ec.europa.eu). Declining fertility rates are considered a dilemma for policy makers within the EU. The low rates threaten the economic growth of the EU nations due to their inability to continue accommodating for an aging population without an adequate replacement of working-age adults to add to the pensions (Vos 2009).