Fertility has fallen to very low levels in many advanced economies, and many pro-natalist policies appear to deliver only modest gains at a high cost. Using survey data from 38 countries, this article shows that both planned and actual fertility are higher among adults who work from home at least one day a week. For couples, fertility is even higher when both partners work from home, suggesting that hybrid work may be an underestimated lever for mitigating the work-life balance.

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25 March 2026

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Vox EU

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https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/remote-work-can-blunt-fertility-decline

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