
The Population Council produces two high-impact peer-reviewed journals: Population and Development Review (PDR) and Studies in Family Planning (SFP). Over the next few weeks, we are highlighting the top 10 most downloaded articles of 2016 for each journal. The topics explored in these papers highlight the diversity of research published in both journals on critical global health and development issues. PDR authors investigated population-related questions and policies on immigration, gender, family, marriage, fertility, and mortality. In Studies, researchers examined trends in unintended pregnancies, abortion, and contraceptive use; the evolution of China’s one-child policy; the effects of Haiti’s earthquake on women’s reproductive options, and more.
The most downloaded paper in PDR was viewed online nearly 7,000 times. "Advanced Maternal Age and Offspring Outcomes: Reproductive Aging and Counterbalancing Period Trends" found that children born to older moms tended to be taller and more educated than the children of younger mothers. This research has been featured in news outlets ranging from CNN and TIME to Cosmopolitan. "Intended and Unintended Pregnancies Worldwide in 2012 and Recent Trends" topped the charts for Studies in Family Planning. Published in 2014 and accessed online more than 5,500 times, it continues to provide authoritative data on the global pregnancy rate and has been cited most recently in press on the male birth control pill and Zika. This essential research informs programs, policies, and dialogue around pregnancy, contraception, and maternal health.
Breaking down the numbers further, the average number of downloads per article was 260 for PDR and 275 for SFP—well above the average of 160 per article for all the journals that Wiley, the journals’ publisher, tags as Sociology. The reach and impact of PDR and SFP is reflected in its global and academic readership for whom the journals are required reading on the latest trends in demography, sexual and reproductive health, and related fields.
Follow us at @Pop_Council and the hashtags #PDRjournal and #SFPjournal. Happy reading!
Population and Development Review Top 10 Articles of 2016:
- 10) Internal Migration and Development: Comparing Migration Intensities Around the World
Martin Bell, Elin Charles-Edwards, Philipp Ueffing, John Stillwell, Marek Kupiszewski, Dorota Kupiszewski
Volume 41, Issue 1
March 2015
This article draws on a repository of data established under the IMAGE (Internal Migration Around the Globe) project to construct the first comprehensive league table of internal migration intensities for countries around the world—examining links between development and migration using a range of demographic, economic, and social variables.
- 9) The Decline of Arranged Marriage? Marital Change and Continuity in India
Keera Allendorf, Roshan K. Pandian
Volume 42, Issue 3
September 2016
Theories of family change suggest that, as countries modernize, arranged marriage would decline in favor of Western marriage practices—an evolution that would signal the improving status of women worldwide. But limited data are available to assess the change. This is the first study to evaluate the extent of change in arranged marriage at the national level in India, and it finds that the trend is toward a hybridization of Western and Indian practices.
- 8) How Many More Missing Women? Excess Female Mortality and Prenatal Sex Selection, 1970–2050
John Bongaarts, Christophe Z. Guilmoto
Volume 41, Issue 2
June 2015
Sex-based discrimination has resulted in severe demographic imbalances between males and females, culminating in a large number of "missing women" in several countries around the world. John Bongaarts and Christophe Z. Guilmoto provide new estimates and projections of this number and the reasons behind it. There were 3.4 million newly-missed females in 2010 and, that number is expected to remain above 3 million every year until 2050.
- 7) Re-theorizing Family Demographics
Gosta Esping-Anderson, Francesco C. Billari
Volume 41, Issue 1
March 2015
Despite predictions about the long-term decline in marriage, fertility, and unions, the research presented here argues that in a number of countries these declines have halted—even reversed in some cases. This turnaround is driven by increasing gender egalitarianism.
- 6) The Fiscal Cost of Refugee Immigration: The Example of Sweden
Joakim Ruist
Volume 41, Issue 4
December 2015
The world currently has more refugees and in¬ternally displaced persons than it has had since World War II, yet there are concerns about the perceived financial burden of this influx. What, in reality, is the economic impact of these new arrivals? Joakim Ruist finds that in Sweden, the country with the largest number of refugees per capita, wealthy countries could substantially increase their per-capita refugee intakes without endangering their welfare systems.
- 5) Population, Policy, and Politics: How Will History Judge China's One-Child Policy?
Wang Feng, Yong Cai, Baochang Gu
Volume 38, Issue s1
February 2013
This essay was first published in the PDR supplement Population and Public Policy: Essays in Honor of Paul Demeny. The authors reject the popular claim that China’s one-child policy was responsible for preventing 400 million births and explain why the policy persisted for more than 30 years despite its negative consequences.
- 4) The Gender Revolution: A Framework for Understanding Changing Family and Demographic Behavior
Frances Goldscheider, Eva Bernhardt, Trude Lappegard
Volume 41, Issue 2
June 2015
Research on the entry of women into the labor force often argues that it has stressed family relationships. In “The Gender Revolution: A Framework for Understanding Changing Family and Demographic Behavior,” however, the authors find evidence of reversals in the relationships between women’s wages and marriage/fertility, and argue that the increasingly active role men play as fathers and partners is also helping strengthen families.
- 3) Twinning Rates in Developed Countries: Trends and Explanations
Gilles Pison, Christiaan Monden, Jeroen Smits
Volume 41, Issue 4
December 2015
The twinning rate has increased dramatically over the last four decades in developed countries—roughly doubling in England, Wales, Germany, Denmark, France, and South Korea; and increasing in the U.S. from 9.5 twin deliveries per 1,000 deliveries in 1975 to 16.9 in 2011. The increase is thanks to delayed childbearing and more medically assisted reproduction (MAR). Pison et al. examine the multiple births trends, as well as the impact of MAR policies and practices.
- 2) The Effectiveness of Immigration Policies
Mathias Czaika, Hein De Haas
Volume 39, Issue 3
September 2013
How effective are immigration policies? This article argues that more evidence-based research about the short and long-term effects of policies is needed because of confusion between policy discourse, policy implementation, and policy impact.
- 1) Advanced Maternal Age and Offspring Outcomes: Reproductive Aging and Counterbalancing Period Trends
Kieron Barclay, Mikko Myrskyla
Volume 42, Issue 1
March 2016
Children of older mothers are on average tend to be taller and more educated than the children of younger mothers. The authors of this study find that in industrialized countries, educational opportunities are increasing, and people are getting healthier by the year. In other words, it pays to be born later.
Studies in Family Planning Top 10 Articles of 2016:
- 10) The Impact of Family Planning Programs on Unmet Need and Demand for Contraception
John Bongaarts
Volume 45, Issue 2
June 2014
John Bongaarts draws on DHS data from 63 developing countries to analyze how family planning programs reduce unmet need and stimulate contraceptive use. By making modern contraceptives more widely available and by removing obstacles to use, more women who do not want to become pregnant use them, thereby reducing unmet need. The evidence also shows, however, that these programs can have a second effect by raising the demand for contraception. This often less-analyzed effect complicates efforts to assess program impact and must be accounted for when evaluating unmet need.
- 9) Induced Abortions and Unintended Pregnancies in Pakistan
Zeba Sathar, Susheela Singh, Gul Rashida, Zakir Shah, Rehan Niazi
Volume 45, Issue 4
December 2014
During the past decade, unmet need for family planning has remained high in Pakistan and gains in contraceptive use have been minimal. Zeba Sathar et al. estimate there were 2.2 million abortions in Pakistan in 2012—a substantial increase from 2002. Both effective family planning programs and strategies to improve the quality and coverage of postabortion services are urgently needed in the country.
- 8) The Effects of Unintended Pregnancy on Infant, Child, and Parental Health: A Review of the Literature
Jessica D. Gipson, Michael A. Koenig, Michelle J. Hindin
Volume 39, Issue 1
March 2008
This article provides a critical review of studies assessing the effects of unintended pregnancy on the health of infants, children, and parents in developed and developing countries. The analysis indicates a need for more studies in developing countries to assess the impact of unintended pregnancy on parental health and long-term health outcomes for children and families.
- 7) Myths and Misinformation: An Analysis of Text Messages Sent to a Sexual and Reproductive Health Q&A Service in Nigeria
Ann K. Blanc, Kimberly Glazer, Uju Ofomata-Aderemi, Fadekemi Akinfaderin-Agarau
Volume 47, Issue 1
March 2016
The nearly 50 million Nigerian young people aged 10–24 face many challenges to their sexual and reproductive health (SRH). In this paper, Ann Blanc et al. analyze the content of more than 300,000 text messages about these topics received by MyQuestion. They find substantial unmet need for basic SRH information, with users’ questions communicated in ways that convey considerable confusion, misinformation, and urgency.
- 6) Reasons for Contraceptive Nonuse among Women Having Unmet Need for Contraception in Developing Countries
Gilda Sedgh, Rubina Hussain
Volume 45, Issue 2
June 2014
The level of unmet need for contraception—an important motivator of international family planning programs and policies—has declined only slightly in recent decades. This study draws upon data from Africa, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean to explain why. Access to a range of methods from which to choose, and information/counseling to help women select and effectively use an appropriate method, can be critical in helping women overcome obstacles to contraceptive use.
- 5) Voluntary, Human Rights-Based Family Planning: A Conceptual Framework
Karen Hardee, Jan Kumar, Karen Newman, Lynn Bakamjian, Shannon Harris, Mariela Rodriguez, Win Brown
Volume 45, Issue 1
March 2014
At the 2012 Family Planning Summit in London, world leaders committed to providing effective family planning information and services to 120 million additional women and girls by the year 2020. Karen Hardee et al. present an innovative new conceptual framework designed to help accomplish that goal by incorporating human rights laws and principles within family-planning-program and quality-of-care frameworks.
- 4) Effects of the 2010 Haiti Earthquake on Women's Reproductive Health
Julia Andrea Behrman, Abigail Weitzman
Volume 47, Issue 1
March 2016
The authors identify effects of the 2010 Haiti earthquake on women’s reproductive health and family planning options, including less frequent use of injectibles and reduced access to condoms. The earthquake also impacted women’s ability to negotiate condom use with their partners and led to an increased numbers of unwanted pregnancies.
- 3) China's Family Planning Policies: Recent Reforms and Future Prospects
Stuart Basten, Quanbao Jiang
Volume 45, Issue 4
December 2014
In November 2013, China announced reforms to its family planning policies: couples would be allowed to have a second child if either parent is an only child. This paper explores the economic, demographic, and political motivations behind the reforms and highlights a potential ideological shift in China’s family planning.
- 2) The End of China's One-Child Policy
Wang Feng, Baochang Gu, Yong Cai
Volume 47, Issue 1
March 2016
This March 2016 commentary describes the process that led to the end of the 35-year one-child policy. The authors argue that much of China’s fertility decline was realized prior to the launch of the policy, under a less restrictive iteration of it in the 1970s that encouraged fewer births.
- 1) Intended and Unintended Pregnancies Worldwide in 2012 and Recent Trends
Gilda Sedgh, Susheela Singh, Rubina Hussain
Volume 45, Issue 3
September 2014
In “Intended and Unintended Pregnancies Worldwide in 2012 and Recent Trends,” the authors find that the global pregnancy rate decreased only slightly from 2008 to 2012, after declining substantially between 1995 and 2008. 85 million pregnancies, representing 40 percent of all pregnancies, were unintended in 2012. This data provides important context for future family planning programs.