IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/dem/demres/v47y2022i14.html

The association between childlessness and voting turnout in 38 countries

Author

Listed:
  • Ryohei Mogi

    (Universitat Pompeu Fabra)

  • Bruno Arpino

    (Università degli Studi di Milano (UNIMI))

Abstract

Objective: This descriptive study aims to analyse the association between childlessness and voting turnout. Methods: We used the first nine rounds of the European Social Survey and logistic regression models to estimate the association between childlessness and having voted in the last national elections using data from 38 countries. Results: Our results show that childlessness is negatively associated with voting turnout in general. The association is stronger among individuals who are in the late reproductive lifespan (ages 35 to 39, 40 to 44, and 45 to 49), males, and those with lower education. The analyses show also considerable heterogeneity across countries but without a clear pattern. Contribution: This descriptive study offers evidence to stimulate more theoretical and empirical research on the relationship between childlessness and voting turnout, which is crucial to better understanding the role of demography in the functioning of democracy.

Suggested Citation

  • Ryohei Mogi & Bruno Arpino, 2022. "The association between childlessness and voting turnout in 38 countries," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 47(14), pages 397-414.
    • Handle: RePEc:dem:demres:v:47:y:2022:i:14
    DOI: 10.4054/DemRes.2022.47.14
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol47/14/47-14.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.4054/DemRes.2022.47.14?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. Michael S. Teitelbaum, 2015. "Political demography: Powerful trends under-attended by demographic science," Population Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 69(sup1), pages 87-95, April.
    2. Vogl, Tom S & Freese, Jeremy, 2020. "Differential fertility makes society more conservative on family values," University of California at San Diego, Economics Working Paper Series qt9wc3k4nm, Department of Economics, UC San Diego.
    3. Ryohei Mogi & Michael Dominic del Mundo, 2020. "Decomposing changes in first birth trends: Quantum, timing, or variance," Vienna Yearbook of Population Research, Vienna Institute of Demography (VID) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, vol. 18(1), pages 167-184.
    4. Eva Beaujouan & Zuzanna Brzozowska & Kryštof Zeman, 2016. "The limited effect of increasing educational attainment on childlessness trends in twentieth-century Europe, women born 1916–65," Population Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 70(3), pages 275-291, September.
    5. Valentina Tocchioni, 2018. "Exploring the childless universe: Profiles of women and men without children in Italy," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 38(19), pages 451-470.
    6. Steven W. Webster & Andrew W. Pierce, 2019. "Older, Younger, or More Similar? The Use of Age as a Voting Heuristic," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 100(3), pages 635-652, May.
    7. Tom S. Vogl & Jeremy Freese, 2020. "Differential fertility makes society more conservative on family values," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 117(14), pages 7696-7701, April.
    8. Udi Sommer, 2018. "Women, Demography, and Politics: How Lower Fertility Rates Lead to Democracy," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(2), pages 559-586, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Arpino Bruno & Mogi Ryohei, 2024. "Is Intending to Have Children Rightist? A Research Note on Political Ideology and Fertility Intentions," Statistics, Politics and Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 15(2), pages 117-136.
    2. Bruno Arpino & Alessandro Di Nallo, 2022. "Sleeping with the enemy. Partners’ political attitudes and risk of separation," Econometrics Working Papers Archive 2022_06, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Statistica, Informatica, Applicazioni "G. Parenti".

    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. Valentina Tocchioni & Anna Rybińska & Monika Mynarska & Anna Matysiak & Daniele Vignoli, 2022. "Life-Course Trajectories of Childless Women: Country-Specific or Universal?," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 38(5), pages 1315-1332, December.
    2. Park, June Woo & Nam, Giseok & Tsang, Albert & Lee, Yung-Jae, 2022. "Firstborn CEOs and credit ratings," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(4).
    3. Arpino Bruno & Mogi Ryohei, 2024. "Is Intending to Have Children Rightist? A Research Note on Political Ideology and Fertility Intentions," Statistics, Politics and Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 15(2), pages 117-136.
    4. Eva Beaujouan & Caroline Berghammer, 2019. "The Gap Between Lifetime Fertility Intentions and Completed Fertility in Europe and the United States: A Cohort Approach," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 38(4), pages 507-535, August.
    5. Marcel Raab & Emanuela Struffolino, 2020. "The Heterogeneity of Partnership Trajectories to Childlessness in Germany," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 36(1), pages 53-70, March.
    6. O'Sullivan, Jane N., 2020. "The social and environmental influences of population growth rate and demographic pressure deserve greater attention in ecological economics," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    7. repec:fir:econom:wp2024_12 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Kumo, Kazuhiro & Perugini, Cristiano, 2023. "Religion, Ideology and Fertility," IZA Discussion Papers 16159, IZA Network @ LISER.
    9. Zuzanna Brzozowska & Eva Beaujouan & Kryštof Zeman, 2022. "Is Two Still Best? Change in Parity-Specific Fertility Across Education in Low-Fertility Countries," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 41(5), pages 2085-2114, October.
    10. Ayauzhan Kamatayeva & Edurne Bartolome Peral, 2026. "Beyond Apathy: Representative Performance as a Driver of the Age Gap in Voter Turnout," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 14.
    11. Rocco Mazza & Roberta Pace & Anna Paterno, 2023. "Themes and policies on population ageing: a bibliometric approach," RIEDS - Rivista Italiana di Economia, Demografia e Statistica - The Italian Journal of Economic, Demographic and Statistical Studies, SIEDS Societa' Italiana di Economia Demografia e Statistica, vol. 77(2), pages 33-43, April-Jun.
    12. Monika Mynarska & Zuzanna Brzozowska, 2022. "Things to Gain, Things to Lose: Perceived Costs and Benefits of Children and Intention to Remain Childless in Poland," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 10(3), pages 160-171.
    13. Hendrik P. van Dalen & Kène Henkens, 2021. "When is fertility too low or too high? Population policy preferences of demographers around the world," Population Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 75(2), pages 289-303, May.
    14. Jessica Nisén & Sebastian Klüsener & Johan Dahlberg & Lars Dommermuth & Aiva Jasilioniene & Michaela Kreyenfeld & Trude Lappegård & Peng Li & Pekka Martikainen & Karel Neels & Bernhard Riederer & Sask, 2019. "Educational differences in cohort fertility across sub-national regions in Europe," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2019-018, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    15. Thaís García-Pereiro & Rocco Mazza & Roberta Pace & Anna Paterno, 2026. "Mapping the ageing workforce: bridging scientific insights and policy strategies," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 60(2), pages 4659-4694, April.
    16. Jessica Nisén & Sebastian Klüsener & Johan Dahlberg & Lars Dommermuth & Aiva Jasilioniene & Michaela Kreyenfeld & Trude Lappegård & Peng Li & Pekka Martikainen & Karel Neels & Bernhard Riederer & Sask, 2021. "Educational Differences in Cohort Fertility Across Sub-national Regions in Europe," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 37(1), pages 263-295, March.
    17. Connor, Dylan, 2021. "In the name of the father? Fertility, religion and child naming in the demographic transition," SocArXiv jndqu, Center for Open Science.
    18. Bruno Arpino & Alessandro Di Nallo, 2022. "Sleeping with the enemy. Partners’ political attitudes and risk of separation," Econometrics Working Papers Archive 2022_06, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Statistica, Informatica, Applicazioni "G. Parenti".
    19. Giammarco Alderotti & Alessandra De Rose & Valentina Tocchioni, 2024. "Employment uncertainty and parenthood: quantifying the mediating role of union formation," Journal of Population Research, Springer, vol. 41(4), pages 1-23, December.
    20. Jalovaara, Marika & Fasang, Anette Eva, 2017. "From never partnered to serial cohabitors: union trajectories to childlessness," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 36, pages 1703-1720.
    21. Marika Jalovaara & Anette Fasang, 2017. "From never partnered to serial cohabitors: Union trajectories to childlessness," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 36(55), pages 1703-1720.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

    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:dem:demres:v:47:y:2022:i:14. 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: Editorial Office (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.demogr.mpg.de/ .

    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.