The world rates of fertility in “unprecedented decline,” UN says

The umbrella Nangia and her husband have been playing the idea of ​​having another child since their five -year -old daughter was born.

But he always comes back to one question, “Can we afford it?”

She lives in Mumbai and works at Pharmaceuticals, her husband works at a tire company. But the cost of a child is already prevalent – school fees, school bus, swimming lessons, even if you go to the doctor is expensive.

It was different when the tummy was growing. “Just as we went to school, nothing extracurricular, but now you have to send your child to swim, you have to send them to drawing, you need to see what else they can do.”

According to a new report by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the UN Agency for Reproductive Rights, the Namra situation is becoming a global norm.

The agency has taken its strongest line so far to reduce fertility, warning that hundreds of millions of people are not able to have the number of children they want, citing the excessive cost of parenting and the lack of a suitable partner as some of the reasons.

UNFPA examines 14,000 people in 14 countries for their fertility intentions. One of the fifth said they did not have or expect that they would not have the desired number of children.

The surveyed countries – South Korea, Thailand, Italy, Hungary, Germany, Sweden, Brazil, Mexico, USA, India, Indonesia, Morocco, South Africa and Nigeria – represent one third of the world’s population.

They are a mix of low, medium and high incomes and those with low and high fertility. UNFPA examines young adults and these past reproductive years.

“The world has begun an unprecedented decline in fertility percentage,” says Dr. Natalia Kanam, the leader of UNFPA.

“Most respondents want two or more children. The degree of fertility is largely falling because many feel unable to create their desired families. And this is the real crisis,” she says.

“Calling this crisis, saying it is real. This is a change, in my opinion,” says demographer Anna Rotkirh, who has explored the intentions of fertility in Europe and advises the Finnish government on population policy.

“In general, there is more undervaluation than an exceeding fertility ideals,” she says. She has studied this for a long time in Europe and is interested in seeing that it is globally.

She was also surprised by how many respondents over 50 (31%) said they had less children than they wanted.

The study, which is a pilot for research in 50 countries later this year, is limited in its scope. As for age groups, for example in countries, sample signs are too small to draw conclusions.

But some discoveries are clear.

In all countries, 39% of people have said that financial restrictions prevent them from having a child.

The highest answer was in Korea (58%), the largest in Sweden (19%).

A total of only 12% of people have cited infertility – or difficulties in creating – as a reason for not having the number of children they wanted. But this figure was higher in countries, including Thailand (19%), USA (16%), South Africa (15%), Nigeria (14%) and India (13%).

“This is the first time you (the UN) have really come up with problems with low fertility,” says Prof. Stewart Gittel-Basten, a demographer at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

Until recently, the agency focused strongly on women who have more children than they wanted, and the “unsatisfactory need” for contraception.

However, UNFPA insists on caution in response to low fertility.

“At the moment, what we see is a lot of rhetoric of a catastrophe, or overcrowding, or a shrinking population, which leads to this type of exaggerated answer, and sometimes a manipulative answer,” says Dr.

“With regard to attempts to make women have more children or less.”

She points out that 40 years ago, China, Korea, Japan, Thailand and Turkey worry that their population is too high. By 2015, they wanted to increase fertility.

“We want to try as far as possible to avoid those countries that accept all kinds of panic policies,” says Prof. Gittel-Basten.

“We are observing low fertility, aging of the population, a stagnation of the population used as an excuse for the implementation of nationalist, anti -migrant policies and conservative policies for gender,” he says.

UNFPA found a bigger barrier for children than finance was a lack of time. About the Mumbai Umra, which sounds true.

She spends at least three hours a day traveling to her office and back. When she gets home, she is exhausted but wants to spend time with her daughter. Her family doesn’t sleep much.

“After a working day, you obviously have this guilt as a mother that you do not spend enough time with your child,” she says.

“So, we’ll just focus on one.”

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