ArticleFrontiers in public health2025
The impact of public health shocks on fertility intentions: evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic in China.
Article in Frontiers in public health, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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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.
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Family planning of infertile couples: a systematic review of intentions regarding parenthood and return to ART.Human reproduction (Oxford, England) · 2026Pooled it
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4 authors.
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Abstract
Background: China's persistent fertility decline poses serious long-term demographic and socioeconomic challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic has introduced additional uncertainty, raising questions about how external shocks affect fertility intentions in real time. Objective: This study examines the causal impact of localized COVID-19 shocks on fertility intentions in China, as measured by high-frequency digital search data that capture real-time behavioral shifts. Methods: We construct a monthly city-level fertility index based on Baidu search volumes for pregnancy-related keywords across 222 cities (2019-2022). COVID-19 exposure is measured using sustained "high-risk" status over 14 consecutive days. A staggered difference-in-differences design is employed, with robustness checks including imputation-based estimators, event-study analysis, and heterogeneity analysis by city characteristics. Results: COVID-19 shocks led to a significant 5.4% decline ( Conclusion: Fertility intentions respond sharply to pandemic-related uncertainty, especially under pressure from economic and institutional constraints. The findings underscore the fragility of reproductive intentions under uncertainty and highlight the importance of tailoring fertility policy to local socioeconomic environments.
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