Low Fertility in Historical Perspective

In the last few years, several Asian populations have joined Europe in the low-fertility league. In 2010 total fertility rates in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore were below 1.4, around the level found in Germany, Italy, Spain, Ukraine, and Poland. At the slightly higher level of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Population and development review 2013-02, Vol.38 (s1), p.72-82
Main Author: Bacci, Massimo Livi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Asia
Children
China
Demographers
Demographic change
Demography
Depopulation
East Asia
Economists
Europe
Female fertility
Fertility
Fertility rates
Germany
Government and politics
Heirs
Historical analysis
History
Hong Kong
Italy
Japan
LOW FERTILITY, POPULATION AGING, AND THE BODY POLITIC
Mortality
Northeast Asia
Peoples Republic of China
Poland
Population
Population growth
Population studies
Poverty
Russian Federation
Scientists
Singapore
South Korea
Spain
Taiwan
Thailand
Ukraine
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Summary:In the last few years, several Asian populations have joined Europe in the low-fertility league. In 2010 total fertility rates in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore were below 1.4, around the level found in Germany, Italy, Spain, Ukraine, and Poland. At the slightly higher level of 1.6 are China, Russia, and Thailand, as well as the total populations of East and North East Asia (1.5 billion) and of Europe (0.7 billion). The worried voices of demographers, sociologists, economists, and political scientists have given increased attention to what they perceive as the deleterious consequences of sustained very low fertility. The crucial question is whether low fertility is becoming a long-lasting feature not only of Western societies but also of all those populations that are slowly emerging from secular poverty: poverty of knowledge and poverty of resources. In this essay I offer some reflections on low fertility and on its incidence in the past. Adapted from the source document.
ISSN:0098-7921
1728-4457
DOI:10.1111/j.1728-4457.2013.00552.x