Essay On Fertility Rate

Fertility rate is the average number of live births per woman or per 1000 women of childbearing age in a population, and is measured in total fertility rate (TFR). Economic development, which is the improvement of the economic well-being and quality of life, in this case for a country, may bring about social, technological and cultural changes, which are socioeconomic factors, such as better healthcare and education, and rising costs of childcare services; sociocultural factors, such as perceptions of marriage and childbirth; and biological factors; which can in turn affect the fertility rates of a country. Even though institutional factors, in this case natalist policies, attempt to reverse the trend of rising or falling fertility rates, economic development is still the main cause of declining fertility rates in developed countries (DCs). Therefore, the

This is due to the fact that the policies in Europe attempt to address the socio-economic and socio-cultural factors decreasing the fertility rate, such as rising costs of raising a child, rising demands of childcare facilities and the effort and commitment needed to raise a child. For example, paternal leave of a minimum of two months is required to be taken by Swedish fathers, unlike Taiwan where 70% of mothers do not even apply for maternity leave. European countries’ pro-natalist policies thus promotes better work-life balance among parents, which allows parents to be better able to commit to taking care of a child than those in East Asian Countries. The greatly subsidised healthcare and preschool sector which have equal fees and standards across the country, which makes family life more attractive for European parents than East Asian parents. More parents in Europe will thus choose to have more children than those in East Asia, due to the effort of pro-natalist policies to address socio-economic