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Low and Lower Fertility

Author : Ronald R. Rindfuss

Publisher : Springer

Page : 190 pages

File Size : 49,77 MB

Release : 2015-10-12

Category : Social Science

ISBN : 3319214829

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Book Description

This volume examines two distinct low fertility scenarios that have emerged in economically advanced countries since the turn of the 20th century: one in which fertility is at or near replacement-level and the other where fertility is well below replacement. It explores the way various institutions, histories and cultures influence fertility in a diverse range of countries in Asia, Europe, North America and Australia. The book features invited papers from the Conference on Low Fertility, Population Aging and Population Policy, held December 2013 and co-sponsored by the East-West Center and the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs (KIHASA). It first presents an overview of the demographic and policy implications of the two low fertility scenarios. Next, the book explores five countries currently experiencing low fertility rates: China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and South Korea. It then examines three countries that have close to replacement-level fertility: Australia, the Netherlands and the United States. Each country is featured in a separate chapter written by a demographer with expert knowledge in the area. Very low fertility is linked to a number of conditions countries face, including a declining population size. At the same time, low fertility and its effect on the age structure, threatens social welfare policies. This book goes beyond the technical to examine the core institutional, policy and cultural factors behind this increasingly important issue. It helps readers to make cross-country comparisons and gain insight into how diverse institutions, policies and culture shape fertility levels and patterns.



Low Fertility Regimes and Demographic and Societal Change

Author : Dudley L. Poston, Jr.

Publisher : Springer

Page : 241 pages

File Size : 48,3 MB

Release : 2017-10-27

Category : Social Science

ISBN : 3319640615

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Book Description

This book explores how low fertility levels could fundamentally change a country's population and society. It analyzes the profound effects below average birthrates have on virtually all aspects of society, from the economy to religion, from marriage to gender roles. An introduction written by Dudley L. Poston Jr. provides a general overview of this relatively new phenomenon that has already impacted nearly one-half of the countries of the world today. Poston also discusses the broad implications of the changes that these societies are currently experiencing and the ones that they will soon confront. Next, each of the 12 essays collected in this volume look into how a low fertility level affects a particular demographic or societal structure or process. In addition, case studies offer an in-depth portrait of these changes in the United States and China. Coverage includes the dynamics of low and lowest-low (where the birthrate is well below average) fertility, high and increasing life expectancies in the United States, the implications of native-born fertility and other socio-demographic changes for less-skilled U.S. immigration, ageing and age dependency in post-industrial societies, good mothering and gender roles in China, the increasing prevalence of voluntary childlessness, how low fertility and prolonged longevity could result in slow economic growth, the decreasing relevance of traditional religious systems, and more. The emergence and persistence of population decline produced by low fertility levels has the potential to greatly alter key aspects of society as well as individual lives. Containing insightful analysis from some of the top minds in demography today, this book will arm readers with the knowledge they need to fully understand these transformations.



Low Fertility, Institutions, and their Policies

Author : Ronald R. Rindfuss

Publisher : Springer

Page : 305 pages

File Size : 22,45 MB

Release : 2016-06-16

Category : Social Science

ISBN : 3319329979

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Book Description

This volume examines ten economically advanced countries in Europe and Asia that have experienced different levels of fertility decline. It offers readers a cross-country perspective on the causes and consequences of low birth rates and the different policy responses to this worrying trend. The countries examined are not only diverse geographically, historically, and culturally, but also have different policies and institutions in place. They include six very-low-fertility countries (Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Spain, and Taiwan) and four that have close to replacement-level fertility (United Kingdom, Norway, Canada, and France). Although fertility has gone down in all these countries over the past 50 years, the chapters examine the institutional, policy, and cultural factors that have led some countries to have much lower fertility rates than others. In addition, the final chapter provides a cross-country comparison of individual perceptions about obs tacles to fertility, based on survey data, and government support for families. This broad overview, along with a general introduction, helps put the specific country papers in context. As birth rates continue to decline, there is increasing concern about the fate of social welfare systems, including healthcare and programs for the elderly. This book will help readers to better understand the root causes of such problems with its insightful discussion on how a country’s institutions, policies, and culture shape fertility trends and levels.



The Political Economy of Japan's Low Fertility

Author : Frances McCall Rosenbluth

Publisher : Stanford University Press

Page : 252 pages

File Size : 47,77 MB

Release : 2006-12-08

Category : Social Science

ISBN : 9780804768207

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Book Description

This book takes an interdisciplinary approach to one of Japan's thorniest public policy issues: why are women increasingly forgoing motherhood? At the heart of the matter lies a paradox: although the overall trend among rich countries is for fertility to decrease as female labor participation increases, gender-friendly countries resist the trend. Conversely, gender-unfriendly countries have lower fertility rates than they would have if they changed their labor markets to encourage the hiring of women—and therein lies Japan's problem. The authors argue that the combination of an inhospitable labor market for women and insufficient support for childcare pushes women toward working harder to promote their careers, to the detriment of childbearing. Controversial and enlightening, this book provides policy recommendations for solving not just Japan's fertility issue but those of other modern democracies facing a similar crisis.



Ultra-Low Fertility in Pacific Asia

Author : Paulin Straughan

Publisher : Routledge

Page : 335 pages

File Size : 34,11 MB

Release : 2008-09-25

Category : Social Science

ISBN : 1134032099

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Book Description

Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea and Hong Kong SAR are among the very lowest-fertility countries in the whole world, and even China has reached fertility levels lower than those in many European countries. If these levels continue over long periods East Asia will soon face accelerating population decline in addition the changes in age distributions in such populations raise major new questions for planning of economic and social welfare. This book brings together work by noted experts on the low fertility countries of East Asia with an up-to-date analysis of trends in fertility, what we know about their determinants and consequences, the policy issues and how these are being addressed in the various countries. Its role in bringing together information on policy trends and initiatives of a pro-natalist kind adopted over recent years in these countries is extremely important, as is the fact that the discussion of these pro-natalist policies is set in the context of a thorough analysis of what has driven fertility so low in these countries. Ultra-Low Fertility in Pacific Asia is invaluable to students and scholars of East Asian public and social policy, as well as fertility studies more generally.



Count Down

Author : Shanna H. Swan

Publisher : Simon and Schuster

Page : 304 pages

File Size : 22,2 MB

Release : 2022-02-08

Category : Health & Fitness

ISBN : 1982113677

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Book Description

An award-winning scientist, in this urgent, thought-provoking and meticulously researched book, shows how chemicals in the modern environment are changing--and endangering--human sexuality and fertility on the grandest scale.



Whither the Child?

Author : Eric P. Kaufmann

Publisher : Routledge

Page : 268 pages

File Size : 34,98 MB

Release : 2015-11-19

Category : Political Science

ISBN : 1317249127

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Book Description

Birth rates are falling and fertility rates are well below replacement levels. At the same time, the economic crisis has forced governments to scale back public spending, reduce child support, and raise the retirement age, causing immense social conflict. Taking a step outside the disciplinary comfort zone, Whither the Child? asks how demography affects individuals and society. What does it feel like to live in a low fertility world? What are the consequences? Is there even a problem - economically, culturally and morally? No other book confronts so many dimensions of the low fertility issue and none engage with the thorny issues of child psychology, parenting, family, and social policy that are tackled head-on here.



Social Dynamics of Adolescent Fertility in Sub-Saharan Africa

Author : National Research Council

Publisher : National Academies Press

Page : 225 pages

File Size : 35,75 MB

Release : 1993-02-01

Category : Social Science

ISBN : 0309048974

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Book Description

This examination of changes in adolescent fertility emphasizes the changing social context within which adolescent childbearing takes place.



Not So Weird After All

Author : Rosemary L. Hopcroft

Publisher : Taylor & Francis

Page : 131 pages

File Size : 11,6 MB

Release : 2024-03-26

Category : Social Science

ISBN : 1040005926

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Book Description

This is the first book to fully examine, from an evolutionary point of view, the association of social status and fertility in human societies before, during, and after the demographic transition. In most nonhuman social species, social status or relative rank in a social group is positively associated with the number of offspring, with high-status individuals typically having more offspring than low-status individuals. However, humans appear to be different. As societies have gotten richer, fertility has dipped to unprecedented lows, with some developed societies now at or below replacement fertility. Within rich societies, women in higher-income families often have fewer children than women in lower-income families. Evolutionary theory suggests that the relationship between social status and fertility is likely to be somewhat different for men and women, so it is important to examine this relationship for men and women separately. When this is done, the positive association between individual social status and fertility is often clear in less-developed, pre-transitional societies, particularly for men. Once the demographic transition begins, it is elite families, particularly the women of elite families, who lead the way in fertility decline. Post-transition, the evidence from a variety of developed societies in Europe, North America and East Asia is that high-status men (particularly men with high personal income) do have more children on average than lower-status men. The reverse is often true of women, although there is evidence that this is changing in Nordic countries. The implications of these observations for evolutionary theory are also discussed. This book will be of interest to students and researchers in the social sciences with an interest in evolutionary sociology, evolutionary anthropology, evolutionary psychology, demography, and fertility.



Three Essays on the Social, Economic, and Demographic Causes and Consequences of Low Fertility

Author : Thomas Markley Anderson

Publisher :

Page : 270 pages

File Size : 15,88 MB

Release : 2015

Category :

ISBN :

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Book Description

The demographic phenomenon of "low fertility" has received considerable attention over the last three decades within academic, political, and public spheres. While a large body of research has led to a deeper understanding of the underlying social and economic dimensions of low fertility, current theoretical and empirical approaches fail to explain puzzles pertaining to within and across population heterogeneity in fertility rates. This dissertation is comprised of three papers that investigate the social, economic, and demographic causes and consequences of low fertility. Chapter 1 sets forth a new theoretical approach to examining the interrelations between low fertility, socioeconomic development, and gender equity among developed countries. The main findings of this chapter are that 1) the pace and onset of socioeconomic development explain a significant proportion of the variation in fertility among developed countries, 2) low fertility may facilitate changes in gender norms through a "gender-equity dividend," and 3) contrary to Second Demographic Transition theory, low fertility may be a transitory phase of the demographic transition. Whereas the Chapter 1 looks cross-nationally at gender and fertility dynamics, Chapter 2 takes a micro-level approach by exploring the relationship between fertility and gender norms in the United States. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY 79), I find that both men and women with progressive views on gender equity have lower fertility than their traditional counterparts, though these results were stronger, more consistent, and more significant across models for women. In Chapter 3 I argue that the rising costs of childrearing through "shadow education" have become a key fertility-reducing force across high, medium, and low-income countries. To investigate this hypothesis, I use data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and find evidence of a "quality-quantity tradeoff" both within and across populations due to costly shadow education. Collectively, the findings of this dissertation signal that the causes and consequences of low fertility are multifaceted and evolving across time and space.