World Bank Document

Figure 5.4 Income and fertility,suggest, however, is that programstend to flourish where their services-become more attractive. This isparticularly true for women, whoare in demand. Nonetheless, gov- are primarily responsible forfeTotlflalS ernment efforts are vital. bringing up children; as theirrot,opportunities for education and7.0 Sub aharan Africaocioeconoic determinnts employment improve and their6.0 Mid East&N Africa of fertility horizons expand, they often want5.0 ASouthi Fertility is an area of human be- a smaller family. Second, withAsia Latin America & CaribbeanEast1Asia \havior where individual tastes, increasing income, parents appar-4.0 - > religion, culture and social norms ently prefer healthier and better-3.0 - Worldwide norm all play a major role. Yet evidence educated, but fewer children.2.0 - S.Ear~ from large groups of people sug- They are more likely to wantgests that differences in fertility more education for their children1.o - can be largely explained by differ- when they believe that future job00 X 1 1 1 1e500 1s0o 3,500 2,000 2,500 3,0001 ences in their social and economicenvironment. What are the mechopportunitieswill be governedless by class origin or familyGNP pe, person (cu,rewl doUoar5)ao "technical notes for Table 180 f the World anisms by which low education, background than by education andDevel,pmrnotIndcaor,tfeetilityrotetocGNprrperson.q-tielati,gt.t.1 poor living conditions, high deathrates and lack of health andassociated skills. Since this tendsto be a consequence of developfamilyplanning services lead to ment, it can help to explain fallinglarge families? fertility over time. Third, thefertility changes among develop- Consider the issue from the children of the poor work at homeing countries from 1960 to 1977. point of view of parents and poten- and outside the home at an earlyThe strength of family planning tial parents. They receive pleasure age: for richer parents, children'sprograms explained an additional from their children but have to work is not so vital to family15 percent. spend time and money bringing welfare.The strength of family planning them up. Children are also a form If children help to support theirprograms is influenced substan- of investment-short-term if they parents in old age, the (low) currenttially by socioeconomic factors work during childhood, and long- costs of raising children are a(which account for about three- term if they support parents in small price to pay. Where mothersquarters of its variation). This helps disability or old age. Since chil- command only low wages, theexplain why family planning pro- dren are a source of satisfaction, differences between children's andgrams in countries with high fer- one might expect richer parents mothers' earnings may be small;tility, such as Pakistan, often to want more of them. Yet the op- work lost by the mother duringappear weak even after years in posite is true, for several reasons. a child's infancy may be easilyoperation. This weakness is often The first is that the alternative recouped by the child later on.written off as simply lack of gov- uses of time-earning money, de- Finally, in poor countries muchernment effort. What the results veloping and using skills, leisure of women's traditional work-inagriculture, crafts and petty retailing-canbe combined with lookingafter children.Figure 5.5 Influences on fertilityThe link between householdpoverty and high fertility is furthermily planningreinforced by high rates of infantprograms~~~~~~~and child mortality; in poor familiesmany births and the high probamaIlerdesiredSmaller desired Lower fertilitybility of infant deaths go hand inhand. In the first place a motherReduction in poverty: A who stops breastfeeding because* Higher female literacy l her baby dies is biologically more* Longer lifctancy Higher age atOther cultural and social factors marriageI likely to conceive another. Parents66t , replace them; and where highmortality is common, social norms