The motivation from the jury read:

“The essay is well executed and deals with an interesting and demographically important topic. Childbearing Trends in Iceland is a well contextualized, classical and solid demographiy essay. The paper analyzes how childbirth has changed in Iceland between the years 1982-2013. The focus is on two potentially critical times, changes in parental leave in 2003 and the economic crisis of 2008, and the subsequent fertility trend. The author demonstrates a clarity and technical abilities when it comes to data and methods. (…) The empirical results contribute to a better understanding of how individual preferences, policy and economic crises affect fertility in a modern welfare state.”

The thesis competition is organized every year by the Swedish Demographic association (Svensk demografisk förening) with an award consisting of the honor + 5,000 SEK.