Study of Sweden's population shows that those who are financially secure tend to start families with many children.

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New study from Stockholm University disproves a common belief that lower-income people have fewer children. This trend is most pronounced for males and strengthens with time: higher income correlates with a larger family size. Having four kids, though, will alter your perspective.

This study analyzed Swedish income data for each birth cohort over a period of forty years to determine how much each group earned during their lifetime. Previous studies had only looked at income at certain moments in time. There is a direct correlation between a high cumulative income and the number of children fathered by males born in the 1940s and after.

"One trend that has strengthened over time is that the wealthiest men tend to have the most kids. There seems to be more offspring in households who have a greater income. Low-income males are more likely to not have any children "according to lead author Martin Kolk of the study published in the latest issue of Population Studies and a researcher at the Stockholm University Demography Unit in the Department of Sociology.

Martin Kolk adds that it's not that the wealthy have a large number of children, but that they do have two, three, or four children more often than those with lesser income.

Overall, the trend has shifted considerably, especially for women. The research found that low-income women born in the 1940s and 1950s had the highest fertility rates. Later generations, however, follow a pattern more like to men's. Women of the Baby Boomer generation who started their careers in the 1960s and 1970s tend to have more children if their income is greater.

In general, the income of a man or woman with five or more children is lower than that of a couple with two or three children, but greater than that of a man or woman without children. It stands in contrast to data showing that in many high-income nations in the 20th and 21st centuries, low-income men and women were more likely to have large families.

According to Martin Kolk, the primary causes of this shift are developments in working life and the Swedish family policy that have made it so women do not feel they must choose between having children and advancing their careers.

"What you're seeing is a shift away from a culture in which women were traditionally expected to choose between pursuing a job and raising a family. Historically, women who were not able to advance financially had more children than those who did. Even if a woman had a modest wage back then, she may have been a stay-at-home mother or wife of a high earner."

There are a lot of childless low-income adults.

Martin Kolk demonstrates that the lack of children in households with low earnings in Sweden is a trend that affects both men and women and that has been strengthening over time. The results of this research make it abundantly evident that monetary concerns have a role in determining fertility rates.

"Having a large family might put a strain on your finances due to the requirement for a larger dwelling, vehicle, and other necessities. Even if the government can chip in, the rising cost of housing and other societal shifts mean that many families need a substantial salary boost to be able to afford to have a kid. More and more low-income Swedes, both women and men, are opting not to have families at this time "as Martin Kolk puts it.

He argues that modern Swedish family policy isn't doing enough to ensure that people of all socioeconomic backgrounds are able to establish families.

"Financial incentives for couples to start a family have long been a focus of Swedish family policy. It would seem that modern family policy is unable to bridge the widening gap in fertility rates across different socioeconomic groups. It seems that attitudes on having children are more divided than ever. There should not be any disregard for this cultural shift, ""Martin Kolk" expresses it well.

Methodology details of the research

The study analyzed the lifetime earnings of all Swedish men and women born in 1940, 1950, 1960, and 1970 from ages 20 to 60. Disposable income (the amount of money left over after taxes have been taken out) and income from child support, parental insurance, and other transfers, as well as cumulative wages, were all factors considered by the researcher. Income was tracked for just those who were born in Sweden so that researchers could examine trends over time.

The study employed Swedish taxation registries and the multi-generation register, which contains information on the number of biological offspring, to quantify income and fertility.