Diene Keita and Alessio Cangiano (UNFPA) on the launch of UNFPA's new global report on the findings of Demographic Futures Survey - Press Conference

Start you off. Great. We're delighted to be joined by Diane Keita, who as you know is the Executive Director of UNFPA, and with her is Alessio Cangiano, Chief Ad Interim of the Population Development Branch at UNFPA, and they're here to present to you the new Democratic Futures Survey. So, Diane, please.

Thank you so much, Stefan. Good afternoon. Thank you all for having us. Ahead of World Population Day this coming Saturday, UNFPA has launched a new report, Lives, Choices and Futures: What Young People Want and What Shapes Their Decisions About Relationship and Parenthood. It is based on our Demographic Futures survey, which comes at a moment when debates about population change are growing louder and more divided. In many places, we are concerned about declining marriage rates and falling fertility. Too often, young people are blamed for turning away from partnership and parenthood. The Demographic Futures Survey starts somewhere else. It helps fill a critical global evidence gap, bringing together the voices and experience of more than 100,000 people across 73 countries, one of the largest and most comprehensive surveys of its kind. We asked them what they want when it comes to relationship, children, and the future, and what they feel is standing in the way of fulfilling their aspirations. The findings are striking. Most young people aspire to partnership and parenthood. But many do not feel the conditions are in place to achieve these goals. Economic and housing constraints were the most commonly cited barriers to both partnership and having children. Some people have suggested that younger generations are rejecting marriage and family life, but our data shows this is simply not true. Two-thirds of the respondents say they're an ideal relationship involves marriage. Yet, among those aged between 25 and 39 who want to have a partner, one-quarter are single and not dating. Most respondents say they want to have children, with 2 children the most commonly reported ideal family size. Financial security topped the list of conditions young adults say they need to feel ready for parenthood. This was cited as important by 88% of the respondents. Stable employment followed closely at 87% and emotional readiness at 85%. They are asking for the conditions that would make real choice possible: decent work, affordable housing, healthcare, sexual and reproductive health services, childcare support, parental leave, and gender equality at work and at home. Simply put, it is uncertainty, not unwillingness, that is making young people question whether they can start a family. And that uncertainty is not only economic. For many young people, conflict and insecurity also shape whether the future feels safe enough to plan for a family, And that distinction matters. If we misread the problem, we risk designing the wrong solution. Many countries are worried about falling fertility, population aging, shrinking workforces, and pressure on care systems. These are real concerns. They matter for economies, public services, and society's future prospects. And demographic change is really about more than birth rate. It is about how society is changing as people have children later, live longer, move, migrate, and form families in different ways. But as we know, demographic futures are not set in stone. They are shaped by the policies we choose, the investments we make, and the opportunities we create. And this is the principle that has guided UNFPA for decades. Everybody should be able to decide freely and responsibly whether, when, and with whom to form a family, free from coercion, discrimination, and unnecessary barriers. Of course, those shifts affect schools, hospitals, jobs, housing, care systems, and public financing. And this is exactly the kind of work UNFPA has a role to play in. We help countries understand these changes clearly and respond with evidence and rights-based solutions, not assumptions. Hence this survey. Although it is clear that young people are worried, but they are not without hope. Two-thirds of the respondents say they feel positive about the future, even as conflict, economic insecurity, and inequality rank among their top concerns. And a rights-based response to demographic change is about ensuring every person has the agency, the support, and opportunity to make some of the most intimate and consequential decisions of their lives. And that drives the work we do in helping governments strengthen population data, understanding the demographic trends, and development data-based population policy that uphold rights and expand choice. And we know there is something that is important to mention here: all these issues are deeply, deeply political. This is precisely why open, evidence-based dialogue is so important. Now, here, more than 100,000 young people have spoken. It is time to listen. In the fragmented world with shrinking resources, we need future generations to try for people and for the planet. But let me give for a few minutes the floor to the mind behind the data, my colleague Alessio. Thank you.

Thank you very much for this opportunity. Let me provide a few additional observations on the relevance of this project and on the key findings of the report. First, let me highlight that until now there has been very little comparable data directly capturing young people's own choices and perspectives across such a diverse set of countries. And this survey contributes to filling this gap, generating new evidence on an early stage of the life course, the transition into adulthood. And this is a time when aspirations, concerns, circumstances are still prospective. And so the survey examines the context in which these transitions are embedded. Uh, its broad geographical scope enables a cross-national comparison of internet-connected young adults across all world regions. The survey also incorporates a range of emerging and relatively unexplored factors that might shape young people's decision-making. For example, housing constraints, environmental concerns, and the daily patterns of social media use. Ultimately, as emphasized by our ED, the survey gave voice to more than 100,000 young people. It's now up to us to listen to them, and at UNFPA, we are committed to doing our part in ensuring that this evidence directly informs forward-looking rights-based policies and programs that support young people in achieving the, their desired futures. With regard to the survey findings, I would like to elaborate on two aspects. The first is the gap between parenthood aspirations and realities. Our idea has already highlighted that our data does not support the idea that a desire for children has vanished. In fact, in 5 out of 7 regional groupings, a 2-child family size remains the highest rated lifetime ideal. 3 or 4 children are cited most frequently in West and Central Africa and Eastern and Southern Africa. An ideal of 3 children is more frequently reported than an ideal of 0 or 1, also in all other regional groupings. Yet when we look at our respondent group aged 35 to 39, those who have basically nearly completed their reproductive age, We found that the average number of children that they have is lower than the average reported ideal lifetime family size. Further, we looked at the subset of respondents in this group who have no children, and we found that the large majority of these individuals are not childfree by choice. 72% of childfree women and nearly 80% of childfree men aged 35 to 39 explicitly reported that they ideally wish to have children. The second part I want to highlight a bit more is the gender dimension of the findings. Mean ideally family size is higher amongst male than female respondents in all regional settings. Female respondents are more likely than male respondents to rate as very important all preconditions for parenthood and barriers to having children. With the largest differences observed for health and reproductive concerns. And respondents are also more likely to disapprove of women than men working full-time while raising the children. The report does not directly examine the reasons for these differences, but these findings suggest that gender equity in both the home and labor market remains an important consideration in policy discussions related to family formation and demographic change. There is, of course, a wealth of additional findings in the report, and I encourage you to read it. And look out for the regional reports that will be published later this year if you are interested in more country-level data and analysis. We look forward to your questions.

Thanks. Thanks very much. I'll now turn the floor over for questions. Yes, please.

Thank you very much for this briefing. My name is Noreen Hossein with IPS News. You've mentioned that the— you— that you surveyed over 108,000 internet-connected people. I wanted to ask, what, uh, what does that mean exactly? Does that have to do with how the survey was conducted, or what was— what is that distinction for exactly? Just to start with.

Yes, so we chose, um, this methodology because we used basically, um, companies that have online panels from which we can promptly collect data, um, in a large number of countries. These are companies that have a global outreach, and therefore the advantage of this approach was that we could quickly collect this data, and it was also fairly cheap to collect this data. So it was an approach that was highly cost-effective. This comes, of course, with some limitations, as any survey approach. Of course, we are— we don't claim to have nationally representative data for all countries. Particularly because we have some countries with relatively low internet connectivity, where we know that those collected— those connected are a selected group of respondents that typically represent the parts of the population with a higher social status. So in that sense, that is the kind of caution that we need as we looked at the data and how we interpret them.

Yes, Tao Xu.

My name is Tao Xu from Xinhua. Did you find any geographic imbalance in the willingness of having children, for example, in developed regions and developing regions, in Africa, for example, and North America?

Yes, as I mentioned, the ideal family size changes quite a bit. We have 5 of our 7 regional groupings where the ideal family size is 2, essentially. Well, the most reported. Then, of course, some people would like to have 3, some 1. That's, that's of course normal. In East and Southern Africa and in West and Central Africa, The most reported ideal family size is 3 or 4, depending on the countries. So I think that is the most remarkable difference that we observed.

Okay.

Yes, Evelyne?

Is there a follow-up?

Yes. Is there an explanation for this difference? Did you do any analysis for this difference?

This is fully consistent with what we know about the stages of the demographic transition in the different countries. We have essentially collected data from a very diverse set of countries that we know in some context fertility is higher, in some context fertility is lower, in some it has declined very rapidly. So obviously we need to take into account this diversity. The data we have actually reflect this diversity that is entirely expected. And of course, you know, further analysis is also possible to look at the contextual factors that affect the different preferences.

Okay, Evelyn.

Hi, Evelyn Leopold. Thank you for the briefing. Fascinating. Where can one see the report? Can you give us the URL for it?

Of course.

And secondly, for— in families that have more than 3 children, what's the reason for that? Are they afraid one might die? Do they need them for labor, or— well, what did you find?

The, the report did not look at the, the, the factors, um, of the, the why people have different, uh, preferences for, for families. Um, as I think, you know, every research, um, we start collecting new data, um, that provides some some results that answer some questions that raise other questions. And I think, you know, this is one of the other questions that looking at the findings, it's definitely something worthwhile further investigation. So this kind of the why question, I think it's really what we are considering as a follow-up for the analysis of this, of the data we have collected.

Noreen again.

Thank you. Uh, another— I have at least one more question. Who is this report intended for, um, in terms of like the find— based on like the data that's been collected and the findings from the report? Who do you see— who should read the report apart from, you know, us journalists and anybody in the system?

The report is intended for everyone. Starting first by the researcher, as I said at the very beginning, this is the first report of its kind, and if it's internet-connected, it allows to really pinpoint data that we didn't have before. And we have been working very long time now on young people aspiration and what they want, so this is the first of its kind. But ultimately, the report is intended to government, member state, to help shape policies. For their demographic transition, demographic future mainly. But so far, since it's the very beginning of it, it's a way to continue the studies regionally, you know, and then sometimes by country as well, because countries are requesting for it. Some member states, some donors are behind this report, finance it, some foundations as well, just to ensure that we can continue deepening the issues because there are so many— there are science behind it, but there are values and cultural aspiration behind it as well.

Sure. Um, uh, to what you said about that you worked with several companies to collect the data and to reach out to surveyors, can you share the company, like some of the name, some of the companies that you worked with?

Yes, these were Recanterly, Speed, and Geopol.

And I have one more question, sorry. Um, was the— among like the data collection, were there any other trends or perhaps disparities between male and female respondents when it came to parental responsibilities about around gender roles, for example? And were there any differences between regions as well?

The, the main differences is, is what I, is what I already mentioned. There are quite marked differences when it comes to some gender norms and expectations in the labor market. In particular, the idea that women work while they have young children. I think that was definitely one. The other factor that emerged quite— it was quite cross-cutting, uh, in many of the questions is that for all the barriers and preconditions— so we asked for, okay, what are the preconditions, uh, for having children for you? What are the most important preconditions? And of course they could rate the, you know, the preconditions. Women always rated the preconditions as higher than men. The same thing when we talk about, okay, what are the key barriers that, that you face And same thing, women always rated this barrier higher than men. So clearly, I think the data showed that they face more the pressure of these decisions than men. I think that is the overall conclusion. Then why this is the case, again, we haven't got to the point where we have analyzed the factors shaping these differences.

Any further questions? Are there any questions online? Okay, if not, I would like once more to thank our guests, Diane Guita, the UNFPA Executive Director, and Alessio Cangiano, the Chief Ad Interim of the Population and Development Branch of UNFPA. Thanks, thanks very much, and thank you all for coming. Have a great afternoon.

Thank you so much.