IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/popdev/v50y2024is1p153-176.html

The Consequences of the COVID‐19 Pandemic for Fertility and Birth Outcomes: Evidence from Spanish Birth Registers

Author

Listed:
  • Marco Cozzani
  • Peter Fallesen
  • Giampiero Passaretta
  • Juho Härkönen
  • Fabrizio Bernardi

Abstract

We examine the joint consequences of the COVID‐19 pandemic for fertility and birth outcomes by drawing on full population administrative data from Spain. We find a surprising improvement in birth outcomes in November and to a less extent in December 2020 (eight to nine months after the first wave of the pandemic) compared with monthly trends in the 10 previous years (2010–2019). The improvement in birth outcomes was shortly followed by a decline in fertility, which concentrated on first births, births to women without a tertiary degree, and births to young and old mothers, respectively. These findings are consistent with the idea that the pandemic selectively affected conception, which showed up first as an improvement in birth outcomes due to the missing conceptions of frail‐children‐to‐be (preterm and low birth weight) and then as a lowered fertility rate due to the missing conception of at‐term children.

Suggested Citation

  • Marco Cozzani & Peter Fallesen & Giampiero Passaretta & Juho Härkönen & Fabrizio Bernardi, 2024. "The Consequences of the COVID‐19 Pandemic for Fertility and Birth Outcomes: Evidence from Spanish Birth Registers," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 50(S1), pages 153-176, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:popdev:v:50:y:2024:i:s1:p:153-176
    DOI: 10.1111/padr.12536
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/padr.12536
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/padr.12536?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alberto L. Garcia-Basteiro & Gemma Moncunill & Marta Tortajada & Marta Vidal & Caterina Guinovart & Alfons Jiménez & Rebeca Santano & Sergi Sanz & Susana Méndez & Anna Llupià & Ruth Aguilar & Selena A, 2020. "Seroprevalence of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 among health care workers in a large Spanish reference hospital," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 11(1), pages 1-9, December.
    2. Gilles Pison & Christiaan Monden & Jeroen Smits, 2015. "Twinning Rates in Developed Countries: Trends and Explanations," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 41(4), pages 629-649, December.
    3. Ryan Brown, 2018. "The Mexican Drug War and Early-Life Health: The Impact of Violent Crime on Birth Outcomes," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(1), pages 319-340, February.
    4. Maibom, Jonas & Sievertsen, Hans H. & Simonsen, Marianne & Wüst, Miriam, 2021. "Maternity ward crowding, procedure use, and child health," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    5. Currie, Janet & Rossin-Slater, Maya, 2013. "Weathering the storm: Hurricanes and birth outcomes," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 487-503.
    6. Elisa Brini & Mariya Lenko & Stefani Scherer & Agnese Vitali, 2021. "Retraditionalisation? Work patterns of families with children during the pandemic in Italy," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 45(31), pages 957-972.
    7. Barker, Nathan & Davis, C. Austin & López-Peña, Paula & Mitchell, Harrison & Mobarak, Ahmed Mushfiq & Naguib, Karim & Reimão, Maira Emy & Shenoy, Ashish & Vernot, Corey, 2023. "Migration and resilience during a global crisis," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    8. Sylvia Kirchengast & Beda Hartmann, 2021. "Pregnancy Outcome during the First COVID 19 Lockdown in Vienna, Austria," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(7), pages 1-14, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sulin Sardoschau, 2019. "Children of War: In-Utero Stress and Child Health in Iraq," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-02383137, HAL.
    2. Shirlee Lichtman-Sadot & Neta Benshalom-Tirosh & Eyal Sheiner, 2020. "Conflict, Rockets, and Birth Outcomes: Evidence from Israel’s Operation Protective Edge," Working Papers 2009, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Department of Economics.
    3. Lin, Chung-Liang, 2021. "Postpartum medical utilization: The role of prenatal economic activity and living costs," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).
    4. Muhammad Nasir, 2016. "Violence and Child Health Outcomes: Evidence from Mexican Drug War," HiCN Working Papers 208, Households in Conflict Network.
    5. Balsa, Ana I. & Triunfo, Patricia, 2022. "The COVID-19 pandemic and birth outcomes in 2020: The role of prenatal care and other channels," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 47(C).
    6. Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes & Brandyn Churchill & Yang Song, 2022. "Immigration Enforcement and Infant Health," American Journal of Health Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 8(3), pages 323-358.
    7. Arna Olafsson, 2016. "Household Financial Distress and Initial Endowments: Evidence from the 2008 Financial Crisis," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(S2), pages 43-56, November.
    8. Berthelon, Matias & Kruger, Diana & Sanchez, Rafael, 2021. "Maternal stress during pregnancy and early childhood development," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    9. Richard Akresh, 2016. "Climate Change, Conflict, and Children," HiCN Working Papers 221, Households in Conflict Network.
    10. Janet Currie & Michael Mueller-Smith & Maya Rossin-Slater, 2022. "Violence While in Utero: The Impact of Assaults during Pregnancy on Birth Outcomes," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 104(3), pages 525-540, May.
    11. Ryan Brown, 2020. "The Intergenerational Impact of Terror: Did the 9/11 Tragedy Impact the Initial Human Capital of the Next Generation?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(4), pages 1459-1481, August.
    12. Lichtman-Sadot, Shirlee & Benshalom-Tirosh, Neta & Sheiner, Eyal, 2020. "Conflict, Rockets, and Birth Outcomes: Evidence from Israel's Operation Protective Edge," IZA Discussion Papers 13394, IZA Network @ LISER.
    13. Sulin Sardoschau, 2019. "Children of War: In-Utero Stress and Child Health in Iraq," Working Papers halshs-02383137, HAL.
    14. Chang, Eunsik & Orozco-Aleman, Sandra & Padilla-Romo, María, 2024. "Long-Term Pre-Conception Exposure to Local Violence and Infant Health," IZA Discussion Papers 17215, IZA Network @ LISER.
    15. Duncan, Brian & Mansour, Hani & Rees, Daniel I., 2015. "Prenatal Stress and Low Birth Weight: Evidence from the Super Bowl," IZA Discussion Papers 9053, IZA Network @ LISER.
    16. Xiaoying Liu & Jere R. Behrman & Emily Hannum & Fan Wang & Qingguo Zhao, 2022. "Same environment, stratified impacts? Air pollution, extreme temperatures, and birth weight in south China," Papers 2204.00219, arXiv.org.
    17. María Fernanda Rosales, 2014. "Impact of Early Life Shocks on Human Capital Formation: El Niño Floods in Ecuador," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 87693, Inter-American Development Bank.
    18. Xi Chen & Chih Ming Tan & Xiaobo Zhang & Xin Zhang, 2020. "The effects of prenatal exposure to temperature extremes on birth outcomes: the case of China," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 33(4), pages 1263-1302, October.
    19. Hope Corman & Dhaval Dave & Nancy E. Reichman, 2018. "Evolution of the Infant Health Production Function," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 85(1), pages 6-47, July.
    20. Krzysztof Karbownik & Anthony Wray, 2019. "Long-Run Consequences of Exposure to Natural Disasters," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 37(3), pages 949-1007.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:popdev:v:50:y:2024:i:s1:p:153-176. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0098-7921 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.