In recent years it has become evident that the population of Europe is falling at a rate that could become problematic. This problem is contradictory to the idea of a population explosion promoted by the book “The Population Bomb by Paul Ehrlich which decries the rapid growth of the earth’s population as problematic for the environment and for quality of life. The decline of fertility points to a view of children that is particularly troubling. Europe simply does not want children despite its desperate need for a growing, productive workforce. Certain social factors have had a strong impact on this problem including migration, birth control, the role of motherhood and the economy. Population decline is indicative of the decline of the family in modern society most specifically in Europe.
Since 1982 the total fertility rate (TFR) for Europe has dropped below replacement levels, meaning women are not having enough children to replace those dying. (Grant 18) The standard replacement level is 2.1 which is the average number of children needed per woman for a couple to replace itself (Grant 17). According to the Population Resource Bureau the TFR for Europe in 2010 was 1.6, well below replacement level. Accordingly, the number of births per 1,000 of the population is 11 which so happens to equal the number of deaths this corresponds to a natural rate of increase of 0 (PRB 8). The same data predicts the population of Europe to increase from 739 million in 2010 to 747 million in 2025. While this seems to contradict the above data the next statistic states that in 2050 the population will drop to 720 million. What accounts for the first increase could be the net migration rate of 2 per thousand. (PRB 8) Specific countries have bigger p...
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... provides us with information to put the “panic” over population into perspective. She addresses both the benefits and side effects of family planning and that population growth can have environmental concerns. Whether offering an opinion or presenting an academic writing or investigation, each author has left the reader with a great deal to consider in regards to the relationship between population control and a growing population.
Jacobsen, L. A., Kent, M., Lee, M., & Mather, M. (2001). America's aging population. Population Bulletin, 66(1).
Women also use birth control systems to stop them from getting pregnant and focus more on their individual lives instead. In addition educational fees might make married couples to rethink and consider having children later because of the living expenses, education expenses and everyday life expenses. It is difficult to maintain a rich lifestyle these days because job applications are very tough to achieve and needs a high educational grade in colleges or even at secondary school. So the question is asked again… Will the world population maintain its rising status or will it stabilize and later decrease. I think it will stabilize in the next decade due to the reasons
Single families have become a common basic family shape within society meaning that there are more families with difficulties that have to be faced. These families can come from a family of divorced parents, the death of a parent, or parents who were never married. The difficulties confronted by single-parent families are fluctuated and numerous. Each family has their own unique challenges that they must endure and overcome during times of transition. They can incorporate changes in the level of family stress, adjustments in one's close to home and family personality, and significant modifications in how the family is overseen. Family administration can be extremely influenced by reduced or modified money related assets, changes in a parent's
The Baby Boomer Generation (Born between 1946 and 1964) was born into the post-World War II economic prosperity and opportunity (Weston, 2006). Baby Boomers were members in smaller families and were doted on by parents, schools, and society as a whole (Weston, 2006). For the most part, they grew up in two-parent households where the father earned the family income and the mother was the home caretaker (Weston, 2006). News became more visual and dramatic as world-changing events such as men landing on the moon and the shooting of a president were seen on television (Weston,
Many scientist and specifically sociologists are concerned with the population on planet Earth. Many couples today are choosing not to have children. This choice does not just effect the couples personally, however it effects the whole country's demographic. The increase in childlessness among couples generates economic and social problems. Many countries are facing this problem. Hara in a journal article mentions that Japan and Germany are a couple of the countries that are going through childlessness (Hara, 2008).Today, more than 80 countries depend on immigration to prevent the populations from declining, due to the death rate being higher than birth rate. (Becker-Posner, 2013) How will declining birth rates affect demographics in many countries around the world? How will it affect the Global economy? How will it affect societies in different countries; will it raise social and racial tensions? Will it affect relations
Feldman (2013) lists many statistics as to how families have change over the years including: the average family size has decreased from 2.8 to 2.6 persons , the number of teenage mothers has decreased but there are still a half million per year. The number of single parent homes has increased and is expected to continue in that direction. Also the number of children living i...
Traditionally the most dominant family form in the United States has been the married couple family. The image of two parents with children living under one roof is the norm for a married couple family. In a married couple family one or both parents work and income levels are gener...
In their book "The Population Explosion", Paul and Anne Ehrlich explain the problem of overpopulation could be solved with no change in the number of people, but by advencements of industrial production and changes in consumption, however difficult it might be (Avilés). According to the US Census Bureau, a total of 83 countries and territories are now thought to encounter below-replacement fertility (Eberstadt). Below-replacement fertility primarily means that the rate of people being born is less than the rate of people dying. Those places have nearly 2.7 billion people that are about 37% of the world population (Eberstadt). Global population growth is predicted to decelerate over the next generation. In fact, slightly fewer people will be born around the globe in the year 2025 than at any point over the last four decades (Eberstadt). A quantity-quality of correlation was discovered by Willis and Becker Lewis in 1973 discussing how the quantity and quality of children is related (Shah). They explained how the marginal cost of a child is higher the greater the cost is per child (Shah). On the other hand, the marginal cost of child quality is higher the more children there are. This pertains to why most poverty-stricken people who live in developed countries have much higher birth rates than higher-income people in more western countries because the impoverished parents tend to lean toward the quantity approach (Shah). Figure 2 demonstrates the quantity-quality tradeoff curve. The curve illustrates how as quantity increases past the maximum utility curve, the quality quickly decreases. This means when the people of developing countries begin to have increases in income, the quantity of children should decrease and birth rates should
Uhlenberg, Peter. 1992. “Population Aging and Social Policy.” Annual Review, Sociology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Umberson, D., Pudrovska, T., & Reczek, C. (2010). Parenthood, childlessness, and wellbeing: A life course perspective. Journal of Marriage and Family, 72, 612-629. doi:10.1111/j.1741-3737.2010.00721.x
Laufer, Robert S., and Vern L. Bengston. "Generations, Aging, and social stratification." Journal of Social Issues 30.3 (2010): 181-205. Web. 16 Feb. 2012.
If it weren't for natural disasters, famine, or policies set for limiting birth rate, the present as we know it would be very different. In the beginning of the development of human beings, we probably had a big explosion of a population. Compared to today, it was most likely a narrow population. It is probable that many diseases that we know of today, were not around at that time, so it grew fast enough to keep us from going extinct. Back then, It was very beneficial for us to reproduce, now, on the contrary, it will be why we might go extinct. Due to the world already being considered overpopulated, some policies have been established. According to National Center for Biotechnology Information, between the years of the 1930s and 1970s China had a massive growth of population; specifically, an increase of 500 million people. In 1979 China introduced the One-child-Policy for the reason to keep a stabled economy. As of today, that policy has slowly faded out. This is a big concern to many scientists because it is alarming that the results of the policy are implying that we have insignificant control over overpopulation. Equally important, The Economic and Social Affair stated in the book “World Population Prospects: The 2015 Revision”, “by 2100, the world population will reach 11.2 billion.” That being the case, These statistics are agitating and should be concerning everyone.
Due to the lack of decency and respect in this generation, society has become very dark. There is poor parenting taking place in this overpopulated world, and it is effecting all the future generations. Teenage parents, are uneducated and unprepared to be to raise a child. They believe they are responsible enough to take on the world and raise a family. Unfortunately, this is false information. Considering they are teenagers, they were unable to get their lives set up for success, and then they make the same parenting mistakes multiple times and end up with a huge family way below the poverty line. For every married couple, two children are all it takes to keep the world’s population at a constant rate. In too many families, there are more than two children, causing to exceed the death rate. In Overpopulation: Causes, Effects and Solutions, Rinkesh Kukreja
Fertility is one of the main issues discussed when talking about the demography of the United States. The U.S. economy plays a rather large role in the rising and falling patterns of the country’s fertility rate. In many past occurrences of economic hardship in the country fertility levels had decreased. One of the main reasons for that being in times of financial struggle, men and women are less likely to want to have children. Being able to support a family is already a difficult task but when people are getting laid off from jobs, unemployment rates are increasing, and the economy is struggling many people can barely afford to buy necessities for themselves never mind for an entire family. An extended decrease in fertility levels could have hugely negative effects on the country’s demography. Lower fertility rates mean less babies being born which in turn decreases the younger age population while the aging population slowly increases. This is one of the main issues with low fertility because it does not evenly decrease the country’s population.