In our new study in Population and Environment, we examine how environmental concerns shape public attitudes toward childbearing in Sweden. We find views linking environmental concerns with reproduction are widespread, even if we find less support that they affect behavior. doi.org/10.1007/s111...

Sweden reached near gender parity in employment in the late 1980s, and if anything, the gender gap has increased since then. There used to be near-universal employment among Swedish men, with Swedish women nearly catching up in the 1980s. Swedish labor force survey, age 35-44.

I dag publicerades min artikel på DN Debatt där jag argumenterar för en höjning, och beskattning av barnbidraget, baserat på att vi ser ökade socioekonomiska skillnader i föräldraskap. www.dn.se/debatt/hoj-b...

Se en ny artikel i Svenska Dagbladet där jag intervjuades om huruvida de senaste 10-årens sjunkande barnafödande är ett socioekonomiskt problem eller inte. www.svd.se/a/4BpQ96/for...

In a new preprint by Linus Andersson, myself and Jan Saarela, we tracks every marriage in Finland 1972 2020 to show how religious conversions shape endogamy — and how those patterns differ for men and women. doi.org/10.17045/sth...

I'm happy to share that the 2nd paper of my PhD "Assessing the validity of microsimulated kinship networks using Swedish population registers", with @demography.bsky.social, @martinkolk.bsky.social and @ezagheni.bsky.social, is available as an MPIDR Working Paper share.google/g0nVmiSI6huB...

Parenthood among same-sex couples has changed as policy & social contexts have evolved. Swedish data revealed that same-sex parenting increased over time among women, but remained rare among men. 👉 New paper by Mollborn, @martinkolk.bsky.social & Evertsson 🔗 genus.springeropen.com/articles/10....

🚨Check out the latest @vypr.bsky.social Data&Trends. Jonas Wood and colleagues investigate urban-rural differences in northern and western Europe regarding women’s educational gradients in fertility. 🔗 austriaca.at?arp=0x004055... #demography @demographyvienna.bsky.social

I think these types of criticisms of quantitative models in the social sciences are largely on point. My solution would be to rely more on simple descriptive and large high powered studies to build robust findings, before moving towards more complicated (and much more fragile) designs.

With a little delay we learned that @lpcalderonb.bsky.social, who could not attend #PAA2025, won a Best Poster Award! Her colleagues put up the poster and a note from Liliana and co-author @martinkolk.bsky.social jumped in to present the research. Congrats Liliana! @popassocamerica.bsky.social

Here is some great new scientific communication on our new overview perspective paper on the interplay between socioeconomic status and genetics. Research has seldom looked better!

If anyone wants to learn more about households and kinship in Sweden, they can join this seminar at 13:00 CET where I present a new study on how an indivudal's household members change over the life course. www.su.se/department-o...

In every civilization, people end up sorted into levels of socio-economic status (SES). We explore the history, present, and future of scientific research on the complicated relationship between SES and DNA in @naturehumbehav.bsky.social💰🧬🎓 Link: rdcu.be/efacK Thread below 👇🏽

New study by Klein, Saarela, and Kolk. The religious live longer! Full table approach to mortality by religion.

In a new study recently published in Demography, Kolk, @jlucastilley.bsky.social, @ylvamoberg.bsky.social , von Essen, and Burn provide a detailed sociodemographic overview of the Swedish transgender population. doi.org/10.1215/0070... (@readdemography.bsky.social)

Compared to all previous societies in human history, financial transfers in old age have reversed in contemporary European welfare states such as Sweden. Virtually none among the oldest (here aged 77+) receive transfers from their children, while it is very common to give downward transfers.

People focusing on current global fertility declines rely nearly only on period data. Cohort and period trends can however look very different. The declines in fertility in central & eastern Europe in the 1990s only resulted in quite modest eventual cohort TFR decline.

I svensk politisk debatt hör man ofta att miljöfrågor har blivit polariserade höger-vänster frågor. Det kan säkert stämma på partinivå där partierna idag har divergerat, men bland invånarna i Sverige finns bara en mindre ökning för sambandet mellan ideologi och miljöintresse de senaste åren.

New research from Jesper Lindmarker PhD student at IAS together with @sd.se & @martinkolk.bsky.social. The study examines how marriage and cohabitation shape longevity across the life course, using Swedish register data. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Yet another study (this time by Claudia Goldin) that uses cross-sectional data, and finds evidence for a U-shaped pattern for gender equality and fertility, even though this pattern does not exist for (almost) any country across time. www.nber.org/papers/w33311

In our new preprint, we examine how environmental concerns shape public attitudes toward childbearing in Sweden. We find views linking environmental concerns with reproduction are widespread, even if we find less support that they affect behavior. doi.org/10.17045/sth...

New paper out, using Norwegian register data. Overall, our results are consistent with small to negligible effects of birth spacing behavior on (non-pregnancy-related) health outcomes for parents. I was lucky to have two excellent collaborators: @martinkolk.bsky.social & Øystein Kravdal

Posted: “Birth Spacing & Parents’ Physical & Mental Health.” @kieronbarclay.bsky.social @martinkolk.bsky.social & O Kravdal find that “very short & longer ave. birth intervals ↑ the probability of care-seeking for physical health problems.” @mpidr.bsky.social read.dukeupress.edu/demography/a...

No previous research has examined how large inequalities are when looking at total lifetime pensions. That is why Jiaxin Shi @mpidr.bsky.social and Martin Kolk (Stockholm University) examined the inequalities in lifetime pensions in Sweden. www.demogr.mpg.de/go/pension

🎉Just out online on the #2024VYPR!!! Emma Engström and @martinkolk.bsky.social explore the interrelations between population, affluence and technology for various environmental impacts using IPAT-type modelling @vypr.bsky.social #demography doi.org/10.1553/p-n5...

The number of deaths in the war in Gaza is now over 0.7% of the population and may be higher. As a comparison, the US lost 0.32% of their population in the Second World War. Denmark lost 0.16%, Norway 0.32%, Canada 0.38%, the UK 0.84%, Italy 1.16%, and France 1.44% of their 1939 population.

Adult children living with their parents, now outnumber parents with young children, at all ages up to age 25 for women and age 27 for men in Sweden. This shows how much, family formation and leaving the parental household have been postponed in Sweden.

Fertility in early adulthood differs dramatically across social contexts, for reasons that fit poorly with most demographic and developmental theories. It has reached a rate of nearly 1/3 in a year, to many contexts where it has been very low.

My first post here will be to respost our new paper in were we count all observable kinship relations in contemporary Sweden. We use linked parent-child records to estimate counts of kin such as cousins, grandparents, nieces/nephews, and grandparents. doi.org/10.1215/0070... (open access)