Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World

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Publications

  • short reads

    For young adults, the ideal marriage meets reality

    Given young adults’ strong preference for a dual-income marriage model and their positive attitudes about working women, we might expect that they would be more likely to embrace the dual-income model when they themselves are married. However, it’s not the case.

  • report

    Delayed Motherhood in Canada

    This links to a FactTank posting about a new Statistics Canada report showing that birth rates for the first time are higher for women in their late 30s than in their early 20s. Most births in Canada are to women ages 30 and older; by contrast, in the U.S., 40% are.

  • short reads

    In Canada, most babies now born to women 30 and older

    In the U.S. and many other nations, it’s no longer unusual for women to have a first child at age 35 or even 40. In Canada, this rise in births to older mothers has produced a striking turnabout: For the first time on record, birth rates are higher for women in their late 30s than in their early 20s.

  • report

    Birth Rate Trends Differ Notably by Age Group

    This is an excerpt from a FactTank posting about new data from the National Center for Health Statistics about birth rates in 2011. Rates for younger women fell to record lows, but rates continued to rise for women ages 40 and older.

  • report

    The Rise of Single Fathers

    A record 8% of households with minor children in the United States are headed by a single father, up from just over 1% in 1960, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of Decennial Census and American Community Survey data. The number of single father households has increased about ninefold since 1960, from less than […]

  • short reads

    How important are pride events to the LGBT community?

    June is LGBT pride month and multiple cities—including Chicago, New York, San Francisco and Seattle—will hold annual events this weekend. But at a time when society is becoming more accepting of homosexuality, how important is it for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people today to show their support at these public events (which began as […]

  • short reads

    Why boys with sisters are more likely to be Republicans

    Interesting things happen when little boys grow up with sisters: They are less likely to help mom with housekeeping chores—and they’re more likely to grow up to be Republicans, according to a new paper published in the latest issue of the Journal of Politics (doc). Young men who were raised with sisters also are more likely […]