Social change and rising ages for having first child

[mackthefork]

Delaying babies 'defies nature' (bbc)

Relates to United Kingdom

The article states that the average age for women having first babies has risen from 26 to 29 over the last 20 years, also that biology hasn't changed, so complications happen more often. We all know that medicine has advanced over this time as well, but we also know that this isn't the main reason why women are choosing to wait until later before having children. The main reason is the social changes regarding womens more prominent place in the workforce, the decision to develop a career and have children later, which I suppose is made easier by an improved confidence in medical science.

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In the BMJ, the specialists write: "Paradoxically, the availability of IVF may lull women into infertility while they wait for a suitable partner and concentrate on their careers and achieving security and a comfortable living standard."



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My questions to the forum...

1) Do you think it matters that more women decide to wait?

2) If this trend were to continue, what are the likely effects?

3) Is it possible birth rates could drop so low, that the population could go into (possibly permanent) decline?

4) Do you think this is a sign of women valuing family less than in the past and money more, or do they just simply see that it is now possible to have both?

5) I'm not sure of whether this compares to US society at all so bear with me, but here women are virtually forced into work (it's possible this is partly to do with the shorter working hours in the UK). It is almost seen as failure by society for a woman to stay at home and raise a family, does this need to change or is it unimportant?

Any comments appreciated, I know this is long my apologies for that fact.

Regards Mack

[Matty]

It is common knowledge that populations will decrease in europe, southeast asia, and north america (although less-so for the U.S. due to immigration).

Also the average age will increase, causing very severe economic problems a few decades from now especially for Japan which doesn't allow much immigration, but almost not at all for the U.S. which allows a lot of immigration.

As the third world develops, their birthrates will decrease as well. In fact, it is theorized that the chief cause of the boom of economies of southeast countries was decreased birthrates. The age makeup of your country makes an enormous difference in the resources that need to be spent, and the revenue coming in.

I would predict that as soon as the male pill comes out, you'll see these trends speed up dramatically.

[wh1t3bread]

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I would predict that as soon as the male pill comes out, you'll see these trends speed up dramatically.

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You really expect men to remember to take this everyday, myself included? [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[Matty]

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I would predict that as soon as the male pill comes out, you'll see these trends speed up dramatically.

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You really expect men to remember to take this everyday, myself included? [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]My son is my daily reminder. =]

[wh1t3bread]

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My son is my daily reminder. =]

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Haha. Yeah, I don't have one of those.

[mackthefork]

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Also the average age will increase, causing very severe economic problems a few decades from now especially for Japan which doesn't allow much immigration, but almost not at all for the U.S. which allows a lot of immigration.


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Hi Grey

I'm not sure how much you mean by a lot, 140,000 immigrants settled in the UK in 2003, 30,000 were admitted because of work, the previous year 2002 these figues were around 117,000 and 15,000 respectively. We also had 318,700 students in 2003 on temporary visas compared to 370,600 in 2002. The 140,000 represents around 0.2% of the population of the country, which is a fair lot in reality, the trouble is vast numbers of immigrants are living together and forming communities, as opposed to integrating into society. There are also an unknown number of people who come into the country by unofficial channels, or rejected asylum claimants who do not leave the country.

I don't think we have a shortage of new people coming into the UK, but I think people come to the UK for much different reasons than they go to the US. As some posters have pointed out in the past, it is possible our cumbersome welfare system has a lot of negative effects as well as positive ones.

Mack

[lehighguy]

People have less kids in a developed economy. The reasons for it are far beyond me. But it's definately an empiracle trend.

[Exsubmariner]

The reasons are pretty simple. In a developed economy, kids are more expensive. In the US today, a child will typically not become a producer in the economy until they are high school or college graduates. If you are talking about a Masters or PHD level education, that means as late as the late 20's. In underdeveloped parts of the world, particularly countries without child labor laws, children can work much earlier. In agririan societies, more children mean more workers on the family farm. This was the situation in the US until the late 1800's. In some parts of the country, into the 1940's and fifties.

Of course, if you develop a permanent welfare class, who get paid government stipends according to the number of children they have, their population will buck the trend and expand.

X

[lehighguy]

That's a pretty good reason, but I bet it goes beyond just economics. Even rich people aren't having as many kids, it has to be social as well.

[phlup]

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That's a pretty good reason, but I bet it goes beyond just economics. Even rich people aren't having as many kids, it has to be social as well.

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It has a lot to do with people just not wanting to take the time to have kids. If you think about it, once you have a kid, it's pretty much 18 years of baby sitting (not a parent, just what it looks like to me). And if you have more than one, you're talking 20 to 25 years of having your life revolve around other people. Sure kids are great and most people eventually want them, but a lot of people are just enjoying life and having fun for longer.

I bet if you looked at the trend in the average age of marrage, you'll also see it's going up for the same reason.