Realization of fertility intentions in Austria, the Czech Republic and Hungary: how much do cities matter? Vienna, Prague and Budapest in comparison

Bernhard Riederer, Wittgenstein Centre (IIASA, VID/ÖAW, WU)
Isabella Buber-Ennser, Wittgenstein Centre (IIASA, VID/ÖAW, WU)

Urban and rural regions usually differ in several characteristics that are relevant to reproductive behavior and fertility. The same applies to certain characteristics of their populations. Against this background, the present research compares the realization of fertility intentions in Vienna, Prague and Budapest with the realization in other parts of Austria, the Czech Republic and Hungary. These three countries and their capitals have a lot in common but still differ from each other markedly. Using the first and the second wave of the Generations and Gender Survey (GGS) for the three countries under study, we analyze whether people in reproductive age (a) realized their intention to have a child within the four-year period between the two waves of the GGS, (b) postponed the realization or (c) abandoned their child wish. We consider several factors influencing this outcome and test whether they have similar or different effects across countries and in urban as well as rural areas using multinomial regression analyses (logit and probit) and stacked models (suest). First descriptive results show that short-term fertility intentions are higher in Hungary than in the two other countries. The realization of intentions differs also between countries, being lowest in the Czech Republic and highest in Austria. Although childbearing intentions in general are higher in the cities, the realization of intentions is higher in the countryside. In addition, preliminary results for Austria suggest that while most factors are relevant for realization in urban as well as rural environments, at least some interesting differences do exist.