The more, the merrier – how do policy-induced fertility changes impact parents’ subjective well-being in old age in rural China?

Purpose Motivated by China's rapid population aging and intensified concerns about insufficient support for older adults, this study seeks to provide causal evidence on the long-term effects of having more children on parental happiness in old age in rural China, an area that has experienced dramatic declines in fertility rates since the 1970s. Design/methodology/approach China's family-planning policies since the 1970s provided exogenous shocks to young couples' fertility decisions. The interplay between women's childbearing age and the timing and stringency of local policy implementation was used to construct instrumental variables for families' fertility decisions, enabling identification of the latter's effects. Findings Analyzing data on 5,439 rural individuals aged 60 and above from the China Family Panel Studies, our instrumental-variable estimates suggest that having an additional child raises aged parents' happiness level by 0.5 points (out of 10) and life satisfaction by 0.2 points (out of 5). These effects are driven by increased non-economic support (e.g. frequent contact and visits) rather than economic support from children. Originality/value Our study is among the few that link fertility to aged parents' subjective well-being in developing countries, complementing previous scholarship by depicting a fuller picture of the long-term effects of fertility and population policy.