Working from home linked to higher fertility, research finds

Working from home is linked to 0.32 more children per woman when both partners do it at least once a week, research across 38 countries suggests.

The study found that among working adults aged 20 to 45, estimated lifetime fertility, meaning children already born or fathered plus plans for future children, rises when one or both partners work remotely.

In the US, the increase was even higher at 0.45 children per woman.

On average, women whose partners did not work from home had 2.26 children.

When the woman worked from home at least one day a week, this rose to 2.48. When both partners did so, it increased to 2.58.

If the man worked from home at least one day a week, the increase was more limited at 2.36 children.

The research, by Steven J. Davis and colleagues and published as a working paper by the National Bureau of Economic Research, points to three possible explanations.

Remote working may make it easier to balance childcare with paid work, leading some couples to have more children.

Families with children may also be more likely to look for remote roles. Or the growing availability of those roles may lift fertility by opening up more parent-friendly jobs.

“All three stories align with the idea that WFH jobs make it easier for parents to combine child rearing and employment,” the report suggests.

The pattern held both after the pandemic, between 2023 and 2025, and before it, between 2017 and 2019.

The implications for national fertility rates vary mainly because working-from-home rates differ widely between countries.

Among workers aged 20 to 45, the share working from home at least one day a week ranges from 21 per cent in Japan to 60 per cent in Vietnam. The UK ranks third globally and leads Europe at 54 per cent.

The report estimates that, if “interpreted causally”, remote working accounts for 8.1 per cent of US fertility, equal to about 291,000 births a year as of 2024.

The researchers note that while this may sound modest, it is larger than the effect of government spending on early childhood care and education in the US.

“Bringing WFH rates to the levels that currently prevail in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada has the potential to materially boost fertility in many other countries,” the report suggests.

However, the research cautions against broad policy approaches, saying the desire for remote work varies widely between individuals, and that it is not practical in every job or organisation.

“Thus, policy interventions that push for a one-size-fits-all approach to working arrangements are likely to yield unhappier workers and lower productivity,” it warns.

A UK Parliament report has also found that remote and hybrid work can boost employment, with parents, carers and people with disabilities likely to benefit most from more flexible working options.