While many worry about population overload, this book highlights the dramatic fall in fertility rates globally exploring questions such as why are parents having fewer babies? Will this lead to population decline? What will be the impact of a world with fewer children and can social policy reverse fertility decline?

Jennifer Barber, Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan, USA
Stuart Basten, Department of Social Policy and Intervention at the University of Oxford, UK
David Coleman, Demography at the University of Oxford, UK
Gøsta Esping-Andersen, Sociology at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain
Heather Gatny, Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan, USA
Anne H. Gauthier, Sociology at the University of Calgary, Canada
Sarah Harper, Gerontology at Oxford University, UK
John Haskey, University of Oxford, UK
Olga Isupova, Institute of Demography at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, Russia
Gavin W. Jones, Asia Research Institute at the national University of Singapore
Yasamin Kusunoki, Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan, USA
Marie-Louise Newell, Africa Centre for Health and Population Studies, South Africa
Brienna Perelli-Harris, University of Southampton, UK
David S. Reher, the Facultad de Ciencias Politicas y Sociologia of the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain
Justine Roberts, Mumsnet, UK
Kate Williams, Mumsnet, UK
Robert Rowthorn, University of Cambridge, UK
Jennifer Yarger, University of California, USA
Zhenzhen Zheng, Institute of Population and Labor Economics at the Chinese Academy of Social Science, China

1. No Time for Children? The Key Questions; Ann Buchanan & Anna Rotkirch 2. Demographic Transitions and Familial Change: Comparative International Perspectives; David Reher 3. The Growth of the One-Child Family and Other Changes in the Low Fertility Countries of Asia; Gavin W. Jones 4. Childlessness: Choice and Circumstances, Chance and Change; John Haskey 5. Population Decline - Facing an Inevitable Destiny?; David Coleman & Bob Rowthorn 6. Why are Women Having Fewer Babies? The Views of Mumsnet Users; Justine Roberts, Kate Williams & Ann Buchanan 7. Young Women's Relationships, Contraception and Unintended Pregnancy in the United States; Jennifer S. Barber, Yasamin Kusunoki, Heather H. Gatny & Jennifer Yarger 8. Crisis and Control: Russia's Dramatic Fertility Decline and Efforts to Increase it; Brienna Perelli-Harris & Olga Issoupova 9. The Choice of Having a Second Child and Its Implication on the Future Family Structure in China; Zhenzhen Zheng 10. Childbearing and the Impact of HIV: The South African Experience; Lorna Benton & Marie-Louise Newell 11. Declining Fertility, Television and the (Mis)Representation of Motherhood; Stuart Basten 12. What Will be the Impact of the Well-being of Children?; Ann Buchanan 13. Falling Fertility, Ageing and the Demographic Deficit; Sarah Harper 14. The Impact on Mothers: Managing the Competing Needs; Ann Buchanan 15. Baby Fever and Longing for Children; Anna Rotkirch 16. Family Policy and Fertility: Do Policies Make a Difference?; Anne Gautier 17. Investing in Early Childhood; Gösta Esping-Andersen 18. Making Time for Children; Ann Buchanan & Anna Rotkirch