Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34462356›Full record

ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2021

Early assessment of the relationship between the COVID-19 pandemic and births in high-income countries.

Arnstein Aassve, Nicolò Cavalli, Letizia Mencarini, Samuel Plach, Seth Sanders

Open access · hybridAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 51 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
51citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
64.7field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

51 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 243 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Childbearing attitudes amid successive novel infectious disease epidemics: a mixed-method experimental approach.Social forces; a scientific medium of social study and interpretation · 2026
    Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Swedish Fertility Developments Before, During and After the COVID-19 Pandemic.European journal of population = Revue europeenne de demographie · 2025
    Article
  13. Impact of Coronavirus Disease 2019 on Fertility: An Integrative Review.The International journal of health planning and management · 2025
    Review
  14. Article
  15. Article
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  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Fertility in a Pandemic: Evidence from California.Population and development review · 2024
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.

Arnstein AassveCarlo F. Dondena Centre for Research on Social Dynamics and Public Policy, Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi, 20136 Milan, Italy; arnstein.aassve@unibocconi.it.ORCID 0000-0002-9980-8610
Nicolò CavalliDepartment of Social and Political Sciences, Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi, 20136 Milan, Italy.ORCID 0000-0002-8986-5566
Letizia MencariniCarlo F. Dondena Centre for Research on Social Dynamics and Public Policy, Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi, 20136 Milan, Italy.ORCID 0000-0001-5070-6069
Samuel PlachCarlo F. Dondena Centre for Research on Social Dynamics and Public Policy, Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi, 20136 Milan, Italy.ORCID 0000-0001-6819-9907
Seth SandersDepartment of Economics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853.ORCID 0000-0001-6810-3979
Bocconi University · ITCornell University · USUniversity of Oxford · GB

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Drawing on past pandemics, scholars have suggested that the COVID-19 pandemic will bring about fertility decline. Evidence from actual birth data has so far been scarce. This brief report uses data on vital statistics from a selection of high-income countries, including the United States. The pandemic has been accompanied by a significant drop in crude birth rates beyond that predicted by past trends in 7 out of the 22 countries considered, with particularly strong declines in southern Europe: Italy (-9.1%), Spain (-8.4%), and Portugal (-6.6%). Substantial heterogeneities are, however, observed.

Indexed as

Birth RateCOVID-19EuropeFemaleHumansMalePandemicsPopulation GrowthPregnancyUnited Statesbaby bustbirth ratesCOVID-19fertilitypandemics

Identifiers

PMID34462356
PMCPMC8433569
OpenAlexW3198001526

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.