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This study compares the institutional setting of family policies in Ukraine and Russia with 31 countries, including post-communist countries and other EU and OECD countries. Large-scale systematic comparisons of family policies in Ukraine and Russia with longstanding welfare states and other post-communist European countries have so far been lacking. The analyses are based on a comparative institutional approach, which captures the content of legislation multidimensionally instead of focusing only on social expenditure. This enables an evaluation of the structure of Ukrainian and Russian family policies in relation to other countries in 2005. Analyses show that Ukraine and Russia differ considerably in terms of family policy, as do other post-communist countries. Ukraine more actively supports traditional family patterns, while Russia leaves greater room for market forces. The policies in Ukraine and Russia are likely to be insufficient when it comes to addressing work-family conflicts and increasing long-term fertility.

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the link between two different family policy dimensions – one supporting the combination of work and parenthood and one supporting stay-at-home mothers – and fertility rates between 1995 and 2011 in 33 industrialized countries.

Design/methodology/approach

Total fertility rates were regressed on the two policy dimensions, earner–carer support and traditional–family support, using pooled time-series analysis with country fixed effects and stepwise control for female labor force participation, unemployment rates and GDP.

Findings

The analyses show that earner–carer support is linked to higher fertility, while traditional–family support is not. Also, higher female labor force participation is linked to higher fertility before GDP is included. Conversely, higher unemployment is correlated with lower fertility levels. Sensitivity analyses with and without day care enrollment on a smaller set of countries show no influence of day care on the results for family policy.

Originality/value

The results give weight to the argument that family policies supporting the combination of work and parenthood could increase fertility in low-fertility countries, probably mediated in part by female labor force participation. Earnings-related earner–carer support incentivizes women to enter the labor force before parenthood and to return to work after time off with their newborn child, thus supporting a combination of work and parenthood.

The influence of perceived macro-level constraints on childbearing on women’s fertility decision-making on the micro level was analysed in Stakhanov, a city with a shrinking population in Eastern Ukraine. The perceived macro-level constraints employed in the study were related to childcare arrangements, value changes regarding family formation, and pollution of the environment and health concerns. To study the influence of those constraints, logistic regression analyses were conducted whereby first-birth and second-birth intentions were analysed separately. None of the constraints influenced childless women’s first-birth intentions. Instead, sociodemographic factors such as age and civil status appeared as significant predictors. That none of the constraints influenced childless women’s fertility intentions is interpreted to be an indicator of the strong norm of having at least one child in Ukraine.For women with one child, the fact that pollution of the environment and health concerns connected to childbirth were perceived as a constraint on childbearing at the national level was significantly associated with lower second-birth intentions. Women in Ukraine seem to perceive environmental pollution as a constraint on their fertility, possibly influenced by public discourse related to the health consequences of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Moreover, the inhabitants of Stakhanov itself have experienced environmental pollution at close range. Those factors together could explain why environmental pollution and poor health were seen as constraints on childbearing at the national level, and the negative influence these had on second-birth intentions.It is argued that environmental pollution should be considered a factor influencing fertility decision-making. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This essay examines the prevalence and the correlates of the use of contraceptive methods in Ukraine in 1999 and 2007. Between those years, the overall use of contraceptive methods decreased slightly. However, the use of modern contraceptive methods, and especially the use of condoms, increased considerably, while the use of traditional contraceptive methods decreased. Higher exposure to messages about family planning in the media was correlated with the use of modern contraceptive methods. It is posited that the results suggest that state policies influence individual behaviour in contraception.