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Shelley Clark @shelleydclark.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Tomorrow in New York! "Fertility in Transition: Causes, Consequences, and Choices" A United Nations General Assembly sideline event www.eventbrite.com/e/fertility-...

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Shelley Clark @shelleydclark.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Registration is open (and required) for this UN General Assembly sideline event next Tuesday: "Fertility in Transition: Causes, Consequences, and Choices" www.eventbrite.com/e/fertility-...

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Shelley Clark @shelleydclark.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Nyovani Madise, Lisa Haddad, Josh Wilde, and I will be speaking on fertility in transition at this UN General Assembly sideline event on September 22. Reservation available at the link: www.eventbrite.com/e/fertility-...

poster
Fertility in Transition: Causes, Consequences, and Choices
Tuesday 22 September 2026
4-6 pm
One Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, 2nd floor
47th St and 2nd Ave

Overview
On the sidelines of UNGA81 , join us for a discussion on changing fertility trends & solutions to advance effective, rights-based responses.

This event will explore the causes and consequences of changing fertility trends across geographic and socioeconomic contexts and facilitate a robust discussion on how to advance effective, rights-based responses.

In today’s world, fertility rates are low or declining in many countries. The specter of population ageing and population decline has captured the public imagination and spurred some governments to implement policies that encourage people to have more children. While fear of population decline is not new, this amplified global interest and the rise of pronatalist policies require an evidence-informed understanding about changing fertility trends, how these differ across contexts, and the implications for various populations.

Speakers with expertise in demography, economics, sociology, and sexual and reproductive health will share and debate their perspectives on these evolving dynamics.

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Shelley Clark @shelleydclark.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

“The desire to control wombs is very central to authoritarian systems.” RIP Gloria.

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Shelley Clark @shelleydclark.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

In-person space is now sold out but it's still possible to register to take part remotely. Over 400 people total!

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Shelley Clark @shelleydclark.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Public discussion and coverage of fertility decline amplifies misinformation and panic, elevating alarmist claims driven by a pro-natalist ideological movement. This Thursday, come hear the research-based alternative at an international, interdisciplinary conference. www.mcgill.ca/popcentre/ev...

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Shelley Clark @shelleydclark.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

There's still time to register for this week's major international conference at McGill on how to think about declining birth rates without pro-natalist panic or misinformation about a fertility crisis. A few seats are left in person, or take part hybrid/ remotely! www.mcgill.ca/popcentre/ev...

mcgill.ca

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Philip N Cohen @philipncohen.com · 11/07/2026

To the Anemona Hartocollis's credit, this article does not use the term "fertility crisis," which is good because there is. not. one. -- contrary to the clickbait bosses at NYT. When you say "fertility crisis," and then liberals can't "solve" it, you are left negotiating over the Nazi solutions.

A Conservative Role Model for Ending the Fertility Crisis

Emma Waters, pregnant with her third child, is crafting policy
to encourage early parenthood. Some think she is pushing an
ideology that does not meet reality.

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Holly Bemiss @bemissh.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

Love for Kazoo magazine from this dad whose whole page is "I read what my daughter reads." (And what a sweet project he is undertaking for his kid!) @kazoomagazine.com @erinbried.bsky.social

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Shelley Clark @shelleydclark.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

Is there really a fertility "crisis"? Beyond Birth Rates: Advancing a Pro-Alignment Approach to Low Fertility in North America A conference on August 20th, 2026. This event is hybrid and can be attended in person at McGill University (Montreal) or online. www.mcgill.ca/popcentre/ev... 1/

poster:
Worried about low and declining birth rates? Is there really a fertility "crisis"?

A conference:
BEYOND BIRTH RATES: Advancing a pro-alignment approach to low fertility in North America

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Elizabeth Wrigley-Field @wrigleyfield.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

…Actually TWO good job openings at this University of Minnesota institute! I love working here; ask me if you have questions about what it’s like

• NIA DECC Communications Manager, JO 374099 (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ccrmaeDxiYIvOHGnUJme1uw1cVXMIZ3W/view?usp=sharing) - DECC is seeking a Communications Manager! As Communications Manager you’ll lead the charge to build a comprehensive outreach strategy from the ground up. You will develop, implement, and evaluate the Center’s communications program with the guidance and support of the DECC Communications Leadership Team. Priority application review begins June 21, 2026 Learn more and apply here! (https://hr.myu.umn.edu/jobs/ext/374099)
• Statistical Programmer, JO 374190 (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WbjZMCtlTQYnmvXB24HBQcKKcqdzOaTo/view?usp=sharing) - The MPC is seeking a Statistical Programmer to oversee the implementation of sophisticated regression analyses for all aims of two federal grants. The Statistical Programmer will collaborate on a recently funded National Institutes of Health (NIH) study focused on the influence of housing policy and neighborhood environment on health, including fertility, infant, maternal health and mortality, among families across generations. This position will work closely with the project’s Principal Investigator, scientific team, and staff. This position will also collaborate with student research assistants and postdoctoral associates. Application Deadline: June 29, 2026 Learn more and apply here! (https://hr.myu.umn.edu/jobs/ext/374190)

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Elizabeth Wrigley-Field @wrigleyfield.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

This is a small center w/in a larger institute, which means that if you (for example) want to attend the weekly research seminar, you’ll be one of ~40+ people in person (all enjoying a nice free lunch), which i think is really fun. This is also why there’s a critical mass for, like, bike tune-up day

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Elizabeth Wrigley-Field @wrigleyfield.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

Salary range $65,000-89,000; on-site minimum two days a week but hybrid welcome It’s a nice place. Spread the word!

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Elizabeth Wrigley-Field @wrigleyfield.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

Communications job in the population health world. This is at an institute where I work that has a great culture and strong support for work-life balance. (I‘ll be working a bit with whoever ends up in the role!) Note that relevant work experience can replace educational background qualifications.

hr.myu.umn.edu

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Shelley Clark @shelleydclark.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

www.mcgill.ca/arts/article... 2026 International Women’s Day McGill Arts @mcgillarts.bsky.social Research Spotlight

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Shelley Clark @shelleydclark.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

One thing I'd particularly want to highlight, since so many discussions of the future of family life get it wrong. People are very quick to look at *delayed* childbearing, as parents wait until later in adulthood, and think they're seeing a *refusal* of childbearing.

Leech: There’s a growing narrative that declining fertility
reflects people “opting out” of parenthood. What does the
data actually tell us about whether people don’t want children
— versus when they feel able to have them?

Clark: What the evidence suggests is that this is much more
about when than whether. Over the past 30 years in Canada, the
proportion of women who reach the end of their reproductive
years without having children has increased only slightly — from
about 14% to 17%. That’s not a dramatic change.
What has changed significantly is timing. People are waiting
longer to have children, and many are having fewer. We won’t
fully know whether today’s delays translate into permanent
childlessness until younger generations reach later life, but
right now the data points much more strongly to postponement
rather than rejection.

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Shelley Clark @shelleydclark.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

I spoke with Charles Leech for @ipsoscanada.bsky.social Ipsos Canada's "What the Future: Family" report. See pp. 36-39 at www.ipsos.com/sites/defaul...

In her work as a sociologist and demographer, Shelley Clark examines
how family life, gender, and life-course transitions are shaped by
broader social and economic conditions. Over the past two decades,
her research has explored how people navigate key transitions to
adulthood across very different contexts — from adolescence and
parenthood in sub-Saharan Africa to more recent work on rural–urban
inequality, family dynamics, and reproductive health in Canada and the
United States.

In this conversation, Clark unpacks what’s changing in how Canadians
are navigating adulthood and parenthood, what isn’t, and why family
change today is better understood as evolution rather than rupture.

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Shelley Clark @shelleydclark.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

I spoke with Charles Leech for @ipsoscanada.bsky.social Ipsos Canada's "What the Future: Family" report. See pp. 36-39 at www.ipsos.com/sites/defaul...

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Samuel Perry @profsamperry.bsky.social · 16/01/2026

Worth noting that when people cite that religiosity is associated with greater fertility across nations (with the implication being we should increase religiosity HERE to increase our fertility rates), that link apparently only applies in non-Christian regions. In fact, W. Europe it's the opposite.

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Shelley Clark @shelleydclark.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

newrepublic.com/article/2040... New by UMd demographer @philipncohen.com in TNR, on the pronatalist panic. Some key lines: "giving in to population panic and endorsing a plan to increase birth rates implicitly supports anti-immigration politics and yields ground to racist fearmongering.” 1/

newrepublic.com

What If Both Sides in the Birth Rate Debate Are Wrong?

The right wants to steer women away from work and toward motherhood. The left wants to provide them with more state support so it’s easier to have children. We should refuse this choice.

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Shelley Clark @shelleydclark.bsky.social · 26/11/2025

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41277108/ Now available: "From Birth to Death: The Marital Consequences of Child Loss for Unmarried Mothers" Stud Fam Plann 2025 Nov 23. doi:10.1111/sifp.70041. Online ahead of print.

Abstract
High levels of premarital childbearing in Africa have spurred considerable interest in its consequences for women. Premarital childbearing corresponds with women's poor health, as well as their subsequent life course outcomes, including their marriage timing and quality. However, this work has not considered the survival of women's premaritally born children, leaving unclear what happens to unmarried mothers when their children do not survive. In this paper, we ask how infant death affects unmarried mothers' subsequent life course outcomes. We analyze recent Demographic and Health Survey data from 26 countries to examine the marital outcomes of unmarried mothers-differentiating between those whose firstborn survived infancy and those whose child did not. We find that, although premarital childbearing is generally known to correspond with marriage disadvantages, unwed mothers whose premarital births ended in the death of an infant have distinctive marital trajectories and experiences compared to their peers with a surviving child. Although child loss accelerates unmarried mothers' entry into marriages, these bereaved mothers are more likely to marry less educated, polygynous, and violent husbands, especially among younger birth cohorts. The results demonstrate the double disadvantages unmarried women face in both bearing and losing a child.

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Matthew M. Brooks @ruraldemography.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

Answer #2: When using the Supplemental Poverty Rate, we find that rural child poverty rates have fallen, particularly post 2017. Broadly speaking, this progress on poverty is unexpected since rural kids are increasingly living in nonmarital families, which normally have high risks of poverty.

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Matthew M. Brooks @ruraldemography.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

Answer #1: Rural kids are increasingly NOT living in married parent families. Instead they are increasingly living with cohabiting parents, never married parents, and with no parents (kinship care). This shift away from married families has happened at much faster pace for rural than urban kids.

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Matthew M. Brooks @ruraldemography.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

Ever wonder about what’s it like to grow up in rural America? So did we! @shelleydclark.bsky.social and I tackle two basic—but essential—questions in our new Journal of Marriage and Family article, just out today. Who do rural kids live with today? How likely are rural kids to grow up in poverty?

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Shelley Clark @shelleydclark.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

psu.mediaspace.kaltura.com/media/t/1_np... "The current pro-natalist project is weaponizing an imaginary rural America in ways that harm real rural Americans today." My DeJong Lecture, and the others in the 20th anniversary event, is now available: "How pro-natalist policies harm rural Americans."

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Shelley Clark @shelleydclark.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

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Shelley Clark @shelleydclark.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

Repeated headlines about population collapse got you worried? @amandajean.bsky.social and a team of demographer colleagues (including me) on why you should rest easy in the face of the pronatalist panic.

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Leafia Ye @leafiaye.bsky.social · 10/10/2025

We are building a new pop center at UofT and will hold our first mini-conference on Nov 6 - come join us!! Exhibit 1: amazing speaker line-up - featuring friends around the world to discuss why demography/pop center matters! 🤓 Exhibit 2: the iconic castle where this conference will take place 🏰 ✨

The speaker line-up for the Toronto Population Network's first mini-conference (Ridhi Kashyap, Oxford; Elizabeth Dhuey, UofToronto; Emilio Parrado, UPenn; Katherine Curtis, Wisconsin; Rachel Margolis, Western; Sarah Flood, Minnesota Pop Center; Shelley Clark, McGill)

The conference venue - Hart House, University of Toronto

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Shelley Clark @shelleydclark.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

Tomorrow at 9 am EST I'll be one of the three speakers for the 20th anniversary of the De Jong Lecture at Penn State, discussing “The Underpinnings and Limits of Pronatalism.” Registration to watch on Zoom is available at the link. pop.psu.edu/events/20th-...

pop.psu.edu

20th Annual De Jong Lecture | Population Research Institute

The Department of Sociology and Criminology is thrilled to announce the 20th Anniversary of the De Jong Lectureship Series on Thursday, October 23, 2025, at 9:00 a.m. in Welch, Room 202 (or via Zoom)....

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Shelley Clark @shelleydclark.bsky.social · 21/08/2025

This new briefing paper from a larger team of demographer coauthors led by @amandajean.bsky.social complements the @theconversation.com piece three of us wrote last month described in the thread below. sites.utexas.edu/contemporary...

sites.utexas.edu

Don’t Panic: Population Projection is Not a Crystal Ball

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Shelley Clark @shelleydclark.bsky.social · 21/08/2025

sites.utexas.edu

Don’t Panic: Population Projection is Not a Crystal Ball

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Karen Benjamin Guzzo @karenguzzo.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

Feeling alarmed over dire long-term population projections that suggest humanity will disappear? Don't be! Demographers generally aren't worried, and you shouldn't be either. @amandajean.bsky.social explains why in this great @ccfamilies.bsky.social brief. sites.utexas.edu/contemporary...

Don’t Panic: Population Projection is Not a Crystal Ball

August 20th, 2025

Population panic – worries about “depopulation” linked to low birth rates – has become pervasive, with dire predictions in both the short and long term. Yet demographers like us – experts who explicitly study population size, composition, and structure – are generally not highly concerned. Why is this? It’s because we understand the strengths and limitations of population projections. Projections can accurately describe how populations will change if we know future birth, death, and migration rates. But demographers are well aware that they don’t have a crystal ball – we can’t fully anticipate economic shifts, political changes, global events, or how future generations will respond to their changing worlds. That’s why the farther we project from the present, the less accurate those projections are likely to be.

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A Jean Stevenson @amandajean.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

I found this out because there were these weird off-hand comments in the population projections from the era. I was shocked that they thought fertility rates would remain at or near Depression levels in the 1940s and 1950s. But of course they did! We always think the future will be like the present.

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A Jean Stevenson @amandajean.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

Did you know that in the 1930s and 1940s elites across society were wringing their hands about birthrate decline? Just like today they attributed their low fertility (BELOW REPLACEMENT, SHUDDER SHUDDER) to individualism, urbanization, consumerism, selfishness, etc. This paper discusses it nicely.

ipc2009.popconf.org

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Shelley Clark @shelleydclark.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

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Population Connection @popconnect.bsky.social · 29/07/2025

We are so glad to see this important conversation gaining traction. The fear-mongering around “population collapse” is not only overstated — it’s often rooted in outdated or biased assumptions. 👇 theconversation.com/fears-that-f...

theconversation.com

Fears that falling birth rates in US could lead to population collapse are based on faulty assumptions

While the changes in population structure that accompany low birth rates are real, the impact of these changes has been dramatically overstated.

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Shelley Clark @shelleydclark.bsky.social · 29/07/2025

My coauthors @lesja.bsky.social @karenguzzo.bsky.social & I have a new piece in @theconversation.com , which offers insights into why most demographers do NOT think there is a current fertility crisis and the panic about population decline is unwarranted. 1/ theconversation.com/fears-that-f...

theconversation.com

Fears that falling birth rates in US could lead to population collapse are based on faulty assumptions

While the changes in population structure that accompany low birth rates are real, the impact of these changes has been dramatically overstated.

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