Responses to High and Low Fertility
Explain dependency and ageing ratios.
Dependency Ratio
The balance of working (‘active’) and non-working people in a population. It is measured by children (0-14) and elderly (65+) divided by those of working age x 100 (to make a percentage)
Aging Ratio
The balance of working (or ‘active’) and elderly people in a population. It is measured by elderly (65+) divided by those of working age x 100.
Factors Affecting Fertility Rate
Status of Women
If there is a balance of power (Status of women), then fertility rate is generally lower. Equality should be promoted.
Level of education
Could focus on education first and prioritize careers before having families meaning child bearing time decreases and chances of having more babies reduce.
Dependency Ratio
The balance of working (‘active’) and non-working people in a population. It is measured by children (0-14) and elderly (65+) divided by those of working age x 100 (to make a percentage)
Aging Ratio
The balance of working (or ‘active’) and elderly people in a population. It is measured by elderly (65+) divided by those of working age x 100.
Factors Affecting Fertility Rate
Status of Women
If there is a balance of power (Status of women), then fertility rate is generally lower. Equality should be promoted.
Level of education
Could focus on education first and prioritize careers before having families meaning child bearing time decreases and chances of having more babies reduce.
Employment Opportunities
Type of Residence
In rural = more babies (labor, education, health, sanitation, culture). In urban = more (educated, careers, health care)
- If women have good careers, they tend to have fewer babies! One in five women in America remains childless throughout their lives, twice the proportion of a generation ago.
- "The proportion of childless women has been increasing steadily by about one percentage point a year," said Jane Dye, the report's author.
- Dye pointed out that the figures do give a clear indication of women's decision to have children later in life to allow them to complete their education and establish a career.
Type of Residence
In rural = more babies (labor, education, health, sanitation, culture). In urban = more (educated, careers, health care)
Religion of parents
Extremely low birth rates in most of Europe have fueled concerns about population decline, yet one segment of the continent's population--Muslims--continues to grow. The increasing number and visibility of Muslims in Western Europe, juxtaposed with the low fertility among non-Muslims, has led some Europeans to worry that the region will eventually have a Muslim majority, fundamentally changing Western European society.
Extremely low birth rates in most of Europe have fueled concerns about population decline, yet one segment of the continent's population--Muslims--continues to grow. The increasing number and visibility of Muslims in Western Europe, juxtaposed with the low fertility among non-Muslims, has led some Europeans to worry that the region will eventually have a Muslim majority, fundamentally changing Western European society.
Health care has a big impact. Countries with good health of bodily functions with good health supply, fertility rate goes down.
Perceived Cost of Having Children
Government Policies
Our research proves that Polish women still want to have babies," she explains. But they also want to carry on working.
So she has drawn up a package of measures, including increased maternity and paternity leave, tax breaks for businesses, flexibility for the self-employed and enabling workplaces to establish kindergartens and nurseries in the hope that her compatriots can be persuaded back into bed.
Examine the impacts of youthful and ageing populations.
Young Population
Case Study – Manila
Ageing Population
Causes of an ageing population
High life expectancy caused by:
Advantages of Ageing Population
Evaluate examples of a pro-natalist policy and an anti-natalist policy.
Case Study – Columbia: Anti-natalist policy
Case Study – India: Anti-natalist policy
Case Study – Tanzania: Anti-natalist policy
Case Study – Singapore: Pro-natalist policy
- The cost of bringing up a child has rocketed by over a third in the past five years, according to research published today which shows that childcare and education are together the most expensive items faced by parents.
- A typical family now pays an average of £186,032 to raise a child from birth to the age of 21 - which amounts to £8,859 a year, £738 a month or £24.30 a day - according to the UK's largest friendly society, Liverpool Victoria.
Government Policies
Our research proves that Polish women still want to have babies," she explains. But they also want to carry on working.
So she has drawn up a package of measures, including increased maternity and paternity leave, tax breaks for businesses, flexibility for the self-employed and enabling workplaces to establish kindergartens and nurseries in the hope that her compatriots can be persuaded back into bed.
Examine the impacts of youthful and ageing populations.
Young Population
- Causes of a youthful population
- Lack of family planning
- No education about contraception
- High infant mortality
- Primary based economy
- No care for old dependents from government
- Immigration of young dependents
- Tradition and status of large families
- Cost of childcare and education
- Increased dependency ratio
- Increased cost of child benefits paid by the government
- Shortage of workers (in the short-term)
- Cost of healthcare (midwives, health visitors, etc.)
- Spending diverted from defence, transport, etc.
- Anti-natalist policy
- Increased immigration of economically active
- Privatised education and healthcare (remove cost from government)
- Reduced birth rates (family planning, contraception, etc.)
- Reduced infant mortality rates (people then normally have less babies)
- Greater care of old dependents (less children needed to care for elderly)
- Lower death rates so less money spend on care homes/hospitals
- Educated and IT literate population (many elderly people are unfamiliar with new technology)
- Abundance of future workers
- Strong military in the future
- Large future market (young people are often interested in consumer goods)
Case Study – Manila
- Population 20 million, grew by 1/3 in 10 years
- 90,000 people in 0.5km2, squatter settlement
- More children can help when parents grow old
- Contagious diseases spread fast
- Low water supply
- Poor infrastructure, waste and sewage infrastructure
- High migration rate
Ageing Population
Causes of an ageing population
High life expectancy caused by:
- Good medical care
- Good diet and improved water supply
- Good sanitation and hygiene
- Emancipation of women
- Cost of children
- Emigration of economically active
- Shortage of economically active
- Reduced taxation income for the government
- Cost of providing healthcare and care homes (elderly tend to get sick more frequently)
- Reduced spending on education, policing, and transport networks, etc.
- Cost of paying pensions
- Service decline (schools, sports centres, etc. not used by older residents)
- Solutions to an Ageing Population
- Increased immigration of economically active
- Increased retirement age
- Private pensions and healthcare
- Increased taxes of economically active
Advantages of Ageing Population
- Elderly people have a lot of experience and can be valuable in the workplace
- Less money spent on schooling and natal medical care
- Lower crime rates and less money needed to be spent on policing
Evaluate examples of a pro-natalist policy and an anti-natalist policy.
Case Study – Columbia: Anti-natalist policy
- 30 years ago the average children in a family was 7
- Now it is 2.8 and still going down
- Based on the concept that we need contraception today and not tomorrow
- Easy access to contraceptives, available free from local shops
- Pro-familia – nonprofit NGO
- Range of services, provide for men and women and also the youthful population
- Empower women
- 6 to 7 million unwanted births are prevented over the last 25 years
- 1965 average couple in the developing world had 6 children, now that number is around 4
Case Study – India: Anti-natalist policy
- Television campaigns to stop birth of children at 2
- Didn’t address the problem of why large families are not needed
- Switched to sterilization clinics
- People were bribed or even physically forced to go
- Created a negative image of family planning set population control back
Case Study – Tanzania: Anti-natalist policy
- 1,000 women die every day from pregnancy related causes
- Pregnancy is the biggest killer of women from 15-19 in the developing world
- 70,000 young women die each year because they aren’t ready to be pregnant
- Contraceptives aren’t allowed to be used
- If you are caught with contraceptives then you are expelled from school
- No access to family planning
- Too young to give birth to babies
- Make parents teach their children absent family planning
- 35% of maternal death can be prevented by family planning
- 200 million women want family planning but can’t access
- Prevention is always better than cure
Case Study – Singapore: Pro-natalist policy
- 0.73 babies per women
- Young women do not want to get married
- Women forced on carriers
- $10,000 for 1st baby
- $22,000 for 3rd or more babies
- Cost of child-rearing is too high
- Increased birth rates by 13.6%
- Government sponsored love cruises to get people to get married
- 12 week maternity leave
- 36% of the Singapore population is made up of foreign nationals
- 80% of the workers are foreign in the industry sector
- If Singapore's policies are not successful it will become increasingly dependent on foreign workers, gradually see an increase in the dependency ratio and ultimately economic decline.