Why Are Women in Most Countries Now Having Fewer Than Two Children on Average?

Essay Question 1: Why are women in most countries now having fewer than two children on average?

“People will always want to have children” – Winston Churchill and Konrad Adenauer

The above mentioned famous words were unquestioned until today when more than half of the world population has fertility below replacement level, i.e. less than two surviving children per woman (Wilson, 2004). Based on the recent developments, we can expect that with high probability the 21st century will see the end of world population growth and possibility of a long term decline (Lutz et al., 2001) i.e. low fertility levels can have irreversible consequences of substantially reducing the size of labour force within one generation just as the population is ageing rapidly. (Changes in the population pyramid: Statistics Bureau, MIC; Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare). With the one child policy in place, China is experiencing a sharp decrease in the supply of labour force. Its total working age population decreased by 3 million last year and it is said that in the next 10 to 15 years of time, the working age population will account for less than 55% of the total population. Japan, the youngest developed nation in 1970s, is witnessing ageing where the proportion of Japanese population who are 65 or older will reach 39% by 2015, when it was only 23% in 2010 and only 9% in 1980. With a situation so grave at hand, it would be worthwhile to first understand the reasons for this problem before discussing the possible interventions.

Today’s woman is highly educated; she is career oriented and engages in paid labour. She is no longer just a homemaker but also a breadwinner and these give her a feeling of greater authority and autonomy. With educational, employment and career opportunities increasing for her, she has to choose between motherhood and other activities, both of which are time consuming, and this has fundamentally altered the pattern on reproductive behaviour with massive...