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Demography Dynamics: Factors Affecting Number of Offspring and Male to Female Ratio in Greece

Received: 23 August 2016     Accepted: 30 November 2016     Published: 30 December 2016
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Abstract

Background: Population models assume that parents make investment decisions that maximize reproductive success in the face of limited resources. Aim: The aim of the current study was to investigate the dynamics of offspring and the patterns of male to female ratio in the urban area of Athens. In addition, the role of socioeconomic factors to their dynamics was examined. The study was conducted in the urban area of Athens. The target group consisted of children in the area’s kindergartens. A total of 435 single parents or parent couples were investigated with respect to their socioeconomic background and the number of children. Result: The main factors affecting the number of children included the income which was influenced by both education and nationality. At the same time, nationality appeared to play a significant role in the male to female ratio with mixed couples manifesting the largest ratio. Conclusions: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work in the literature examining the dynamics of offspring by calculating the effects of socioeconomic factors such as education, income and nationality. At the same time, such works are extremely important both towards the understanding of population dynamics but also towards policy making, which includes both demographical and fiscal policies.

Published in Journal of Family Medicine and Health Care (Volume 2, Issue 4)
DOI 10.11648/j.jfmhc.20160204.25
Page(s) 119-131
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2016. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Demography, Greece, Socioeconomics, Number of Offspring, Male to Female Ratio

References
[1] Walker, R. S., et al., The trade-off between number and size of offspring in humans and other primates. Proc Biol Sci, 2008. 275 (1636): p. 827-33.
[2] Charlesworth, B., Evolution in Age-Structured Populations. 1994: Cambridge University Press.
[3] Roff, D. A., Evolution Of Life Histories: Theory and Analysis. 1992: Springer.
[4] Tagka, A., et al., Socioeconomical Factors Associated With Pediculosis (Phthiraptera: Pediculidae) in Athens, Greece. J Med Entomol, 2016.
[5] Verropoulou, G. and C. Tsimbos, Differentials in sex ratio at birth among natives and immigrants in Greece: an analysis employing nationwide micro-data. J Biosoc Sci, 2010. 42 (3): p. 425-30.
[6] Michas, G., S. Papadopoulos, and R. Micha, Austerity in Greece not only kills but also curtails births and marriages. BMJ, 2013. 347: p. f6639.
[7] Simera, I., et al., A catalogue of reporting guidelines for health research. Eur J Clin Invest, 2010. 40 (1): p. 35-53.
[8] Athanassenas, G. A., Seasonal variation of births in Greece. Temporal changes and regional differences over a 24-year period. Chronobiologia, 1985. 12 (4): p. 351-7.
[9] Demoliates, Y. D. and V. C. Katsouyiannopoulos, Seasonality of births: changing pattern correlated with the seasonality of marriage. J Epidemiol Community Health, 1995. 49 (1): p. 110-1.
[10] Dimitrakakis, C., et al., Maternal mortality in Greece (1980-1996). Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol, 2001. 99 (1): p. 6-13.
[11] Doulgeraki, A. and M. Valari, Parental attitudes towards head lice infestation in Greece. Int J Dermatol, 2011. 50 (6): p. 689-92.
[12] Kotzamanis, V. and E. Androulaki, Demographic development in Greece 1830-2007. 2010, Laboratory of Demographic and Social Analysis: Athens. p. 87-120.
[13] Mousiolis, A., et al., Maternal age demographic trends in Greece from 1980 to 2008. J Reprod Med, 2013. 58 (5-6): p. 246-55.
[14] Vrachnis, N., et al., Greece's birth rates and the economic crisis. Lancet, 2014. 383 (9918): p. 692-3.
Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    George I. Lambrou, Maria Braoudaki, Eleni Papanikolaou, Anna Tagka. (2016). Demography Dynamics: Factors Affecting Number of Offspring and Male to Female Ratio in Greece. Journal of Family Medicine and Health Care, 2(4), 119-131. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jfmhc.20160204.25

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    ACS Style

    George I. Lambrou; Maria Braoudaki; Eleni Papanikolaou; Anna Tagka. Demography Dynamics: Factors Affecting Number of Offspring and Male to Female Ratio in Greece. J. Fam. Med. Health Care 2016, 2(4), 119-131. doi: 10.11648/j.jfmhc.20160204.25

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    AMA Style

    George I. Lambrou, Maria Braoudaki, Eleni Papanikolaou, Anna Tagka. Demography Dynamics: Factors Affecting Number of Offspring and Male to Female Ratio in Greece. J Fam Med Health Care. 2016;2(4):119-131. doi: 10.11648/j.jfmhc.20160204.25

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  • @article{10.11648/j.jfmhc.20160204.25,
      author = {George I. Lambrou and Maria Braoudaki and Eleni Papanikolaou and Anna Tagka},
      title = {Demography Dynamics: Factors Affecting Number of Offspring and Male to Female Ratio in Greece},
      journal = {Journal of Family Medicine and Health Care},
      volume = {2},
      number = {4},
      pages = {119-131},
      doi = {10.11648/j.jfmhc.20160204.25},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jfmhc.20160204.25},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.jfmhc.20160204.25},
      abstract = {Background: Population models assume that parents make investment decisions that maximize reproductive success in the face of limited resources. Aim: The aim of the current study was to investigate the dynamics of offspring and the patterns of male to female ratio in the urban area of Athens. In addition, the role of socioeconomic factors to their dynamics was examined. The study was conducted in the urban area of Athens. The target group consisted of children in the area’s kindergartens. A total of 435 single parents or parent couples were investigated with respect to their socioeconomic background and the number of children. Result: The main factors affecting the number of children included the income which was influenced by both education and nationality. At the same time, nationality appeared to play a significant role in the male to female ratio with mixed couples manifesting the largest ratio. Conclusions: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work in the literature examining the dynamics of offspring by calculating the effects of socioeconomic factors such as education, income and nationality. At the same time, such works are extremely important both towards the understanding of population dynamics but also towards policy making, which includes both demographical and fiscal policies.},
     year = {2016}
    }
    

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    T1  - Demography Dynamics: Factors Affecting Number of Offspring and Male to Female Ratio in Greece
    AU  - George I. Lambrou
    AU  - Maria Braoudaki
    AU  - Eleni Papanikolaou
    AU  - Anna Tagka
    Y1  - 2016/12/30
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    DO  - 10.11648/j.jfmhc.20160204.25
    T2  - Journal of Family Medicine and Health Care
    JF  - Journal of Family Medicine and Health Care
    JO  - Journal of Family Medicine and Health Care
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    EP  - 131
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
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    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jfmhc.20160204.25
    AB  - Background: Population models assume that parents make investment decisions that maximize reproductive success in the face of limited resources. Aim: The aim of the current study was to investigate the dynamics of offspring and the patterns of male to female ratio in the urban area of Athens. In addition, the role of socioeconomic factors to their dynamics was examined. The study was conducted in the urban area of Athens. The target group consisted of children in the area’s kindergartens. A total of 435 single parents or parent couples were investigated with respect to their socioeconomic background and the number of children. Result: The main factors affecting the number of children included the income which was influenced by both education and nationality. At the same time, nationality appeared to play a significant role in the male to female ratio with mixed couples manifesting the largest ratio. Conclusions: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work in the literature examining the dynamics of offspring by calculating the effects of socioeconomic factors such as education, income and nationality. At the same time, such works are extremely important both towards the understanding of population dynamics but also towards policy making, which includes both demographical and fiscal policies.
    VL  - 2
    IS  - 4
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Author Information
  • First Department of Pediatrics, Choremeio Research Laboratory, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens-Goudi, Greece

  • First Department of Pediatrics, Choremeio Research Laboratory, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens-Goudi, Greece

  • Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes, University of Athens Medical School, “Eugenideion” Hospital, Athens, Greece

  • Department of Dermatology, University of Athens Medical School, Andreas Syggros Hospital, Athens, Greece

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