Dear MEL Topic Readers,
Does it make sense to pay people to have
kids?
The fertility rate is the average number of
children born to women during their reproductive years or the childbearing age
(15-44 years). A fertility rate of 2.1 is known as the replacement rate. If the
rate is greater than 2.1, the population in a given area will increase and if
it’s smaller, the population will eventually decrease, provided that there is
no significant number of immigration or emigration takes place during the
period. The fertility rate is often confused with the birth rate, which is the total
number of live births per 1,000 population. In 2016, the average global birth
rate was 18.5 births per 1,000 total population.
While African countries have much higher
fertility rate, about five children per woman of childbearing age, the EU
average is only 1.6, way below the world average of 2.5. Though the figure is
still higher than the ones of eastern Asian countries like Japan, South Korea
or Taiwan, EU countries are struggling to make their citizens reproduce with financial
allowance and incentives, childcare assistance, and other pro-family policies.
However, as economic and environmental uncertainty loom, people in developed
countries are reluctant to have more than one or two children despite the government
policies and social supports.
Enjoy reading the article to learn about how European
countries and communities are encouraging people to produce more children.
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