Overview
- A peer-reviewed analysis of about 1.75 million people born in the Netherlands from 1970 to 1980 and followed through 2023 finds men from divorced families have roughly 13% fewer children and women about 5% fewer.
- Childlessness is more common among those who experienced parental divorce, and those who do have children become parents earlier on average, by about 0.75 years for women and 0.3 years for men.
- Shorter relationship duration appears central: marriages of adults from divorced homes were about one year shorter, and accounting for this removed the fertility gap for women and halved it for men.
- The authors controlled for observed background factors but emphasize the results are observational and do not establish causation.
- Experts say the Dutch findings may not transfer directly to Germany because social policies, family structures, childcare systems, and the nature of separations differ.