In general, an ageing population puts added pressure on the working-age population to be more productive – just to maintain total output – amid growing fiscal constraints.
Following a 30-year boy-to-girl birth rate imbalance, up to 800,000 ‘extra’ men born since the mid-1980s will be unable to find a South Korean woman to marry. That has big demographic consequences.
South Korea’s fertility rate fell below the level needed to sustain a population in the mid-1980s – and it never recovered. It is now below one child per woman during her reproductive years.
Childbearing goals have remained remarkably consistent over the decades. What has changed is when people start their families and how many kids they end up having.
Economic opportunities, social norms and expanding education and employment options for many women help explain why U.S. fertility has slowed in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is reducing life expectancy, decreasing birth rates and slowing down immigration. These changes may produce concerning trends in populations globally.
Gilles Pison, Muséum national d’histoire naturelle (MNHN)
Fertility is higher in Northern Europe than in Southern Europe. To understand, let’s take a look at family policies, equality between women and men and the economic context.
Research shows that unrest, even terrorism, can erupt in poor countries with a surplus of young people and not enough jobs. Can Niger, a once-peaceful sub-Saharan African nation, handle its baby boom?
Did you ever consider that human beings might have a breeding season? Birth seasonality exists – and has interesting implications for childhood disease outbreaks.
Tanzania was an early, ardent believer in family planning. Now it joins a growing number of developing nations that see potential advantage in having a huge and growing workforce.
Do Muslim couples in Australia have ‘on average 4.5 children’ while other couples have ‘1.5 children’? Could Australia have a ‘Muslim majority’ in ‘a couple’ of generations? Let’s check the evidence.
Are we overscheduling our children even from the moment of their birth? We live in an on-demand world. Movies are shown on request, food is delivered on call and drivers arrive when beckoned. As an economist…
Humanity is on course for a population greater than 11 billion by the end of this century, according to the latest analysis from the UN’s population division. In a simple sense, population is the root…
Observers may be quick to declare social trends “good” or “bad” for families, but such conclusions are rarely justified. What’s good for one family – or group of families – may be bad for another. And…
Anthropologue et démographe, professeur émérite au Muséum national d’histoire naturelle et conseiller de la direction de l'INED, Muséum national d’histoire naturelle (MNHN)