A new database compiles fertility preferences from 170 countries for the years 1936–2025
The Global Fertility Preferences Database (GFPD) is a new open-access database covering fertility preferences in 170 countries. It brings together data collected over nearly nine decades, offering a unique opportunity to examine how fertility preferences have changed over time and may also offer an insight into future demographic trends.
The database is based on survey data collected worldwide between 1936 and 2025 and includes information on the average ideal, desired, intended, and expected number of children reported by respondents. Rather than individual-level responses, the dataset provides country-level estimates together with detailed information about each survey.
“The GFPD enables researchers to study long-term trends and cross-national variation in fertility preferences on a global scale”, says one of the authors Kateryna Golovina, researcher from the Population Research Institute of Väestöliitto.
The GFPD draws on major international survey programmes, including
- World Values Survey (WVS)
- European Values Study (EVS)
- International Social Survey Programme (ISSP)
- Eurobarometer (EB)
- Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS)
- Generation and Gender Surveys (GGS).
It also incorporates data from numerous country-specific studies, such as Finnish Family Barometer and Japan’s National Fertility Survey, making it the most comprehensive collection of fertility preference data assembled to date.
The dataset is available for research, teaching and study from Finnish Social Science Data Archive. More information here: Fertility Preferences: Global Data 1936-2025
The research is part of the projects: The Social networks, fertility and wellbeing in ageing populations: Building demographic resilience in Finland (NetResilience) and Migration Scenarios (MigScene). The research has received funding from the Strategic Research Council within the Academy of Finland.
