means longer life spans (which means that older people use resources which would be used by new generations in a pre-transition society)
means lower infant mortality (which means that people don’t need to reproduce a lot, as their children have good chances of surviving childhood)
Whatever additional processes are in play, likely aren’t amenable to change either.
people have an increased tendency to have children after achieving economic certainty
Result: some never achieve it, some achieve it when less fertile or infertile, some when their own parents already need care.
people have an increased tendency for solitary lifestyle
Result: people live separately from their parents more often, and expect it as a criterion of normal life, as a result of which grandparents are less available to help with child care.
people have better education about their fertility
Result: children aren’t had accidentally.
Changing some politicians seems unlikely to change that, unless a new social agreement forms. What that agreement might be, I don’t know. I speculate it could be “have children before building a career, to enable this, very strong welfare guarantees are offered to parents raising kids”.
I doubt it.
The demographic transition:
means longer life spans (which means that older people use resources which would be used by new generations in a pre-transition society)
means lower infant mortality (which means that people don’t need to reproduce a lot, as their children have good chances of surviving childhood)
Whatever additional processes are in play, likely aren’t amenable to change either.
Result: some never achieve it, some achieve it when less fertile or infertile, some when their own parents already need care.
Result: people live separately from their parents more often, and expect it as a criterion of normal life, as a result of which grandparents are less available to help with child care.
Result: children aren’t had accidentally.
Changing some politicians seems unlikely to change that, unless a new social agreement forms. What that agreement might be, I don’t know. I speculate it could be “have children before building a career, to enable this, very strong welfare guarantees are offered to parents raising kids”.