Background: Spain has one of the most enduring low levels of fertility in the world, but desired fertility there is still close to two children. Objective: We document recent fertility trends and examine the reasons that women and men provide for not achieving their desired fertility. Methods: We use data from the 2018 Spanish Fertility Survey (14,556 women and 2,619 men). We provide a cohort and age perspective and compare women and men. We use retrospective information and classify the reasons people report for not having (more) children. Results: Estimates on observed fertility, employment, and partnerships show that having a stable partner between the ages of 25 and 35 seems key in the transition to childbearing. Work–family conflicts and insufficient economic resources are the main reasons women and men give for not having their desired number of children. These are followed by partnership reasons (not having a stable partner) and health (infertility). Conclusions: Our findings, although descriptive, shed light on the multiple and age-varying obstacles that prevent women and men from achieving desired levels of fertility. Contribution: The Spanish population indicates that the most important preconditions for having (more) children are sufficient economic resources, stability, and having a partner.

中文翻译：

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西班牙最低的低生育率：2018 年西班牙生育率调查的见解（作者：Mariona Lozano、Diederik Boertien、Albert Esteve、Ryohei Mogi、Qi Cui）


背景：西班牙是世界上生育率持续较低的国家之一，但那里的理想生育率仍接近两个孩子。目标：我们记录最近的生育趋势，并研究女性和男性未能实现预期生育的原因。方法：我们使用 2018 年西班牙生育力调查的数据（14,556 名女性和 2,619 名男性）。我们提供队列和年龄视角，并对女性和男性进行比较。我们使用回顾性信息并对人们报告的没有（更多）孩子的原因进行分类。结果：对观察到的生育率、就业和伴侣关系的估计表明，拥有一个 25 岁至 35 岁之间的稳定伴侣似乎是向生育过渡的关键。工作与家庭冲突和经济资源不足是女性和男性未能生育理想数量的主要原因。其次是伴侣关系原因（没有稳定的伴侣）和健康（不孕不育）。结论：我们的研究结果虽然是描述性的，但揭示了阻碍女性和男性达到理想生育水平的多重且随年龄变化的障碍。贡献：西班牙民众表示，生育（更多）孩子最重要的先决条件是充足的经济资源、稳定和拥有伴侣。