Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Topic: Birth Dearth
Think! Remember the population bomb? The new problem that has surfaced is not about having too many people living in this planet anymore, on the contrary, it is about the declining birth rate that is occurring across the globe. Developed countries such as France, Japan and Singapore are experiencing especially low fertility rate.
Singapore's birth rate is still at record low even as bold measures were introduced by the government to encourage more births. Latest official figures show that Singapore's Total Fertility Rate (TFR) in 2005 remained low at 1.25 children for each Singaporean woman. This new rate works out to just 37, 497 births, way below the 50,000 babies needed to replace the population.
Reasons contributing to the phenomenon:
'Stop at Two' campaigns
This campaign started out in 1969 to encourage couples not to have more than two children in their married life. Although the campaign ended in 1986, most couples still chose not to have more children or delay having them as the number of working women in Singapore has increased.
High cost of living
Couples fear of being unable to cope with the cost of raising children due to high standard of living and volatile global economy has dampened people's desire to have more children.
Remain single or Delay in marriages
Emancipation of women results in massive number of women receiving higher level of education, thus becoming financially-independent and intelluctually-empowered. Emancipation of women has also allowed women a myriad of choices in the way they lead their lives. There is greater emphasis given to individual fulfilment as opposed to familial obligation. Therefore, more women opt to remain single or have very few children, if any at all, so as to pursue other avenues of personal development or satisfication.
Today's world
While in affluent societies, children are no longer needed as insurance against destitution in old age, in poorer communites, access to free or highly-subsidised contraceptives as well as intermediate agricultural techonology and growing urbanisation have resulted in smaller families.
- AngelaLabels: Birth Dearth
