ECONOMICS (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -Some reflect positive reasons – higher incomes, improved education and improved access to health care and reproductive services. Falling birth rates have enabled many women to pursue a much greater range of economic and social activities.

Detailed explanation-2: -For the last 70 years, fertility rates have decreased worldwide, with a total 50% decline. Reasons include women’s empowerment in education and the workforce, lower child mortality and the increased cost of raising children.

Detailed explanation-3: -The younger a population, the faster that population grows because the birth rate is higher and the death rate is lower (Fig. 13-1). When birth rate is expressed per age group, it is called the standardized birth rate, as opposed to the crude birth rate of the total population.

Detailed explanation-4: -The problem with low fertility is that it reduces population size not at all ages but only among the young. Low fertility produces an age structure that creates a momentum for future population decline, a situation that must be stopped at some point if the population is to be demographically sustainable.