Economic Development Influence on Fertility
Introduction
Fertility rate is described as rate of birth which takes the live births in comparison to the total population in the specified area which is calculated with the base figure of 1000 population in a given year. It is done annually in order to keep track of the trends. It ca also be described as the birth rate in simple language. With the consistent evaluation and comparison, resent results have shown that the trend keeps changing where in other areas in increases consistently as it reduces in others. Research has shown that in most areas where a reduction is recorded, the economic growth is overwhelming and is in the increase. The opposite is also true as where increase is recorded, the economic growth is either very slow of reduces. This brings us to the conclusion that the relationship between economic growth and fertility is inversely proportional. In general, fertility can be described as productivity and richness/fruitfulness, which in relation to humans it reflects to the expectance and delivery of children. For the governments of any country, human labor is important since it is a fundamental element in driving the economy. Therefore, the reduction in the fertility rate may affect it negatively. This is contradicting since with a rising economy, less chances of managing of both factors are available. As established that the economic development plays a role in fertility rate, this paper examines how the economic development of a country/region influences the fertility.
According to a research carried out by Rios, (1991) and Mixon, (1993), the mission was to examine the relationship between fertility and economic growth/development. About 30 countries, both developed and developing were sampled to find equal results. The examination of both developed and developing countries was due to the different economic times and the likelihood of them having developed and less developed economies respectively. As mentioned in the introduction, the findings indicated that the relationship between the two variables was inverse. According to Hsing, (1995), “(Rios, 1991) found that the total fertility rate has a negative and significant per capita GNP. With the comparison of the two divisions, the developed and developing, the researchers further proved that the countries with more income equality have lower fertility rates, and that countries with less income equality exhibit higher fertility rates. This confirms that the economic development independently has minimal influence on the fertility. However, the distribution of the wealth to the people in the country determines the rate of fertility, where evenly distributed records lower levels. This is in accordance with findings by other researchers as well. With consistent assurance of this fact, the question of how the two relate and the role that the economy of a country plays on issues regarding productivity rises.
Ways in Which Economic Development Influences Fertility
High Education Levels
According to Massey, and Tedrow, (1976), “… that a high level of education and a low level infant mortality rate in turn results in lowered fertility.” Based on the interpretation of statistical analyses, Heer who researched on this concept as well found support for the hypothesis, which suggested specific direct and indirect casual relationships between economic development and fertility. Mortality rate in this case describe the number of deaths of infants during delivery in comparison to the actual umber of expected births. This is also done over a specific period with the examination of 1000 people which is always the base. It has been proven beyond reasonable doubt that education levels and economic growth work hand in hand. Either one of them influences the other.
With good economy, it will lead to education pursuit. Good education also leads to economic growth. Therefore education levels will directly determine the fertility rate. With people well educated, awareness on the risks of immature births will be enhanced. They therefore avoid this to ensure their health is not put at risk. Also, they will be more reluctant to deliver at early stages before they are fully established in various areas such as career, and other desires they may have. This is also possible due to the increased knowledge on birth control methods. The opposite is observed where people are of less education and less knowledge regarding methods of birth control. Similarly, innovation is less and the economic background is not well established, this people have nothing to pursue which may lead to premature births despite the risks they may face. Therefore, the relationship that is inverse between the two concepts is clearly influenced by the economic development.
Dynamics of Fertility and Growth
Mikevsca, (2001) stated that, “In order to examine the dynamics of fertility and growth, consider a special case where agents within a generation have the mean level of human capital and the factor relating children’s human capital to their parent’s human capital is set to its expected Value…” the argument was purely economical with variables that would enhance the understanding. Where people are believed to be economically established, they have set constant and identical perceptions of the minimum acceptable income to make ends meet. The perceptions however vary and coincide with the official minimum income of the adults in the family. This is also due to awareness of the unpredictability of employment security and for how long the region is likely to enjoy the stability.
Undoubtedly one characteristic of the booming economies is that it is faced by intense competition which when not well adhered to by individuals, the manpower can be replaced by the best. (Mikevsca, 2001) is therefore justified to relate the fertility rate to the income of the breadwinner of specific family units. Most people would like to maintain the same lifestyle whether they have employments or lose it. The same applies whether the stability is guaranteed or not. Therefore, people driving the economy in whichever capacity will most likely prefer to have the number f children they can adequately provide for regardless of the changes in economic times. This is definitely a small number. Thus, this explains the recording of reduced fertility with the development of the economy.
Change in Economic Activities
In past decades, children were viewed as a source of labor. This is during the where the only source of survival which was practiced by many was agriculture. It was rarely done on a professional level, thus no employees from outside the communities would take place in the land development. However the perception has changed with the introduction of new methods of earning income. Agriculture is regarded as a professional way of making ends meet. Children are preferred to go to school and get necessary education where they can pursue careers of their choice rather that wait for the land inheritance. This practice was most common in African societies. With the introduction of the different careers, education is quite expensive to afford. This is also related to the professions such as law and accounting where the skills have to be acquired form the classroom. People have therefore cut out on the number of children to only have those they are capable of taking care of well. (Menard, 1999) also supports this argument by proving that many families pursuing further education are of professionals and chances that their guardians are professionally involved in the economy are high. The likelihood that the families are small is also more likely than not, in developed economies. Thus, with the changes in economic activities, the fertility rate reduces. This is however commendable since illiteracy is reduced by avoiding the delivery of children that one cannot adequately take care of incases of hardships.
Change in the Social Setting
As earlier discussed, the social setting in the past centuries considered children as a form of wealth and blessing. The perception has since changed where though they are still viewed as a blessing, it no longer becomes necessary to have many children to prove how much one is worth. This is in relation to the economically developed countries/economies where they inversely affect the fertility rate. Besides this, the society has adjusted to smaller families’ where they are viewed as fashionable. Scholars have fond evidence in their research showing that most people have a negative perception towards people with large families in developed countries which is also a contributor for measures such as abortion.
With this knowledge, one can be able to establish the reasons behind the reduction in fertility rate and how much lower it gets with the improvement of the economy. It is also a factor that is tricky to ignore since the society is our surrounding and in most cases influences our behavior and reaction to certain things. However, criticism o the research by Menrad, (1999) has shown that, “the major problem with this type of analysis has shown that it lumps together variables which may differ in the magnitude of their effects on fertility and family planning efforts.” Thus, it fails to clarify which actual aspects of social and economic development are really important for fertility decline. The research also showed that out of almost 67 variables that were considered, only about 5 were direct. This therefore gives a positive aspect in the argument of the concept as having inverse relationship.
Evidence of the Research
The empirical analysis will center on the model’s implications for births, the main prediction for aggregate number of births is that, in times of economic depression, declining labor income causes fertility reduction. In other words, while fertility and income declined in all transition economies, deeper reduction in fertility should be expected in countries with deeper fall in real GDP per capita (Mikevsca, 2001). This is in relation to the equality of the per capita income at whichever time whether during an economic boom or depression. Just as the economic development was established to be a cause of reduction in fertility, the more the disparity in income, the more experience there is of reduced fertility rates.
However, to prove the discussion above, the more a country is economically stable, chances that the economy is controlled by few people are high. This then illustrates that the per capita income is likely to be imbalanced, thus making the fertility rate low. This is the mystery behind the economically developed countries. It is also worth noticing that the variables such as labor supply are factored in the deducing of the conclusion.
Conclusion
Sufficient evidence has adequately proved that the relationship between economic development and fertility rate is indeed inversely proportional. The factors considered such as time available, the labor production and the societal influence are also worth taking note of. With all the concepts considered, an awareness of the importance of human power is also needed. This is with regard to the future where if the labor supply is low, the people needed to establish and further build the economy will be limited, thus a lapse. The working conditions should also be adjusted to allow people the flexibility to concentrate on all the aspects of life aside form careers. This should be social, professional and family.
References:
Hsing, Y., & Rios. (1995). Testing the Quadratic Relationship between Economic Development and the Fertility Rate: A Comment. The American Economist, 31(1). Pp 95-97.
Massey, D., & Tedrow, M. (1976). Economic Development and Fertility: A Methodological Re-Evaluation. Population Studies, 30(3). Pp 429-437.
Menard, S. (1999). Fertility, Family Planning, and Development: Indirect Influences. Development Research. Retrieved From Http://Www.Springerlink.Com/Content/G30132h20g721n09/
Micevska, M. (2001). Economic Disruption, Malthusian Fertility, and Economic Growth. Economic Studies Program. Retrieved From HYPERLINK “http://www.demogr.mpg.de/Papers/workshops/001011_paper06.pdf” Http://Www.Demogr.Mpg.De/Papers/Workshops/001011_Paper06.Pdf
