birth rates

Reason 1 for the decline - women’s position

• legal equality with men , including the right to work

• Increased educational opportunities - girls now do better at schools than boys

• Changes in attitudes to family life and womens role

• Easier access to divorce

• Access to abortion and contraception gives women more control over their fertility

• Harper = education of women is the most important reason for decline in birth and fertility rates

• Changes women’s mindset , women now seek other priorities

• In 2019 1 in5 women aged 45 was childless

Reason number 2 - children are now economic liabilities

• since the 19th century children have become economic liabilities

• Laws banning child labour, compulsory schooling, raising the school leaving age means children remain economically dependent on their parents for longer

Reason 3 - children centredness

• increase in child centredness means that childhood is now seen as an important period in an individuals life

• Family size has changed as parents now have fewer children and focus more on fewer children and resources

Effects of changes in fertility

• smaller families mean that women are more likely to be free to go to work - dual earner couple

• Children may become lonelier due to fewer siblings