Fertility

Fertility

1. Trends

   • Fertility is a major Cont to Pop Growth
   • The total FR in the world is proj to decline to 2.2 and then 2.0
     • 2.2 in 2045-2050 and 2.0 in 2095-2100. Europe is the only region proj to increase whereas other regions would decline and be below RL while Afrca would reach 3.0 Europe has effective family planning and migration.
   • Childbearing is being increasingly postponed to older ages
     • Adolescent birthrate has declined In DCs due to changing perspectives (social) has accounted for the decline while LDCs remain to have high FR
   • Nearly 1/2 of the world's pop lives in countries below replacement level
     • Some have reached unprecedented levels of 1.3
   • Decline was siginifican in all regions esp in Asia & LA
     • From 5.8 to 2.5 while countries like Africe (6.5 to 4.9) less rapid
   • Fertility has declined worldwide
     • from 5.0 (1950-1955) to 2.5 (2005-2010)
   • Total fertility is currently 2.5
     • 12 countries with 6.5 children/woman 75 have FR below replacement level Ldcs> DCs

2. Measures

   • CBR
     • No of recorded live births/1000 people/ year
     • Takes into account entire pop
       • Non- Child bearers
     • General indicator not Accurate
       • Need to consider age distribution and gender comp
   • GFR
     • No of births/1000 women of rep rod age (15-45)
     • More Refined than CBR
       • Takes into account only women capable of childbearing
     • Discrepancies may arise
       • Due to fertility variations
         • A community may have unusually high no of women aged 20-30 while another would be 35-45
   • ASFR
     • Total no of live births occuring to women in a specific age group/1000 females in same group/year
     • Usually 5 year age gaps
       • 15-19 20-24 25-29  until 45
     • Such rates can only be calculated when the age of mother at birth is recorded
   • TFR
     • Refers to the av no of children can a woman can bear if she would to experience current ASFR in her lifetime
     • Calculation
       • Sum of all ASFR of woman of each age group multipled by interval into the ages which are grouped
     • when TFR=2: RL reached
       • Replacement Rate
         • attained when there is just sifficent children born in a year to balance the no of people that died that year

3. Factors Affecting FR

   • Socio-Eco
     • Changing perception of children
     • Changing Status of women
   • Biological
     • No of years in marriage
       • Late marriages tends to account for most time a woman spent unmarried Marriage practices like bigamy contributes to higher FR Infecundity inlfuences FR: women that have been married for a no of years, use no contraception yet has not become pregnant LONGER THE MARRIAGE: HIGHER CHANCE OF HAVING MORE KIDS
     • Patterns of sexual activity
       • Phy sep of partners (infecundity) Emplyment: pursue own goals LACK OF QUALITY TIME
     • Age
       • Potential for children tends to decline as one gets older.
     • Length of breastfeeding
       • In a no of societies, sexual activity is not allowed during the course of breastfeeding In much of Subtarreanan Africa, women breastfeed for long period and refrain from sexual activity after birth of child to preserve health of mother and child Scientifically,the longer you breast feed, reduces possibilty of having another child
     • Contraception
       • Increasing knowledge, acceptance and use of contraception Become an intgral part of govt policies. Thus use of FPP is greater in urban areas than rural areas as they need the extra farm hands. 1in 7 women now use contraception
     • IVF
       • It is when an egg is removed from a woman and fertilised with a sperm. when it has fused, it is placed back into the woman and will grow into a normal embryo
     • Forced measures
       • Abortion-> age, danger, not ready, financial Sterilisation-> Health, financial
   • Institutional
     • Governmental Policies
       • Anti-Natalist
         • China
         • Singapore
       • Pro-Natalist
         • Singapore
         • France
     • Religion
       • Many great religions favour fertilty and large families
         • Arab
           • Culture and traditions have positive attitude towards fertility
         • Africa
           • Symbol of a man's virality ans status symbol
       • Exceptions
         • Protestanism
           • Moulded by malthusian's fear of overpop, in belfast FR in catholic areas> protestant area