Dear MEL Topic Readers,
World fertility rates in 'unprecedented decline', UN says
Just several decades ago, countries in eastern Asia such as Japan,
South Korea, and China were struggling to deal with an increasing number of newborns.
For example, China implemented the infamous one-child policy in 1979 to control
population growth, but in the last several years, it has been trying to
increase the low fertility rate of only 1.2 children per woman, which is well
below the replacement level of 2.1. Also, the number of Japan’s newborns
exceeded two million between 1971 and 1974, but it fell to below 700,000 last
year, much fewer than the number of deaths of 1.6 million. According to the recent
UN report from a survey of young adults and those past their reproductive years
in 14 countries with various fertility rates, one in five said they haven't had
or expect to have as many children as they desire, even though most of the respondents
want to have two or more children. Nearly 40% cited financial limitations as
the main reason for not having the desired number of children. But in general,
developing countries tend to have higher fertility rates than developed countries.
So, what does the financial restriction mean to couples? As the number of
expected parents who have fewer or no siblings increases, the world may see even
fewer children per couple in developed countries.
Read the article and think about what could prevent couples from having
as many children as they want.
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