Why do people have less children as their societies grow richer?

Answer 1

Good point. Just at a glance, it seems people who live in societies with better incomes and general welfare get accustomed to living a life of luxury, and realize that if they have children they will lose the liberty of traveling and getting all the stuff they want. For example, in Switzerland, people have 5 weeks vacation of their jobs, so they travel for about a month each year, or even more. Having children and starting a family means losing that independence and liberty, which implies making a commitment to other people (a steady couple and your children). It seems societies which are very prosperous become more individualistic.

Answer 2

I have read all the answers given thus far and in my mind they all basically say the same thing - GREED!

More educated - career becomes more important than family - GREED

Availability of Birth Control - we use birth control because we want to be able to have more of what we want - GREED!

No longer farming - why did we leave the farm in the first place. We wanted a better/easier life - GREED!

Equal Rights for Women - I am all for it, but why do men or women want to get ahead in the work place - GREED!

Society grows richer - the richer we get the more we think we need, the more we need the less we want to share - GREED!

I wonder what will be more comforting the I.R.A.'s or the Grand Children when we grow old and near death? I can tell you as a retired Priest I admit I think of those grand children that may have been. They would certainly be more comforting than those thousands of parishioners, the Pope and Bishops that do not even know I am alive today. Opp's - is that my GREED talking or loneliness. Thank God for the IRA's I have.

Answer 3

I am working towards a PhD in Sociology currently. The answer is a combination of several factors already mentioned. The first way is that people become more educated as the nation prospers, all institutions grow, and the society becomes more "open", where people can compete (such as by getting advanced degrees) for top positions. This and also society becomes more "expensive," as there is more options for what to buy/consume and more wants and desires. The result is that: women enter the workforce to increase the family's buying power; family's limit their size to help meet their financial goals; both men and women stay in school longer, resulting in delayed onset of fertility and lower numbers of children due to less reproductive years; and last, as education becomes more advanced and extensive, more people learn about birth control and family planning, and it becomes more common and accepted to use birth control methods.

Answer 4

Perhaps because the realize what a pain children can be? It's not like the world needs a higher population, anyways.

The real reason is this: Back 100, 500 years ago, the life span was a lot shorter, and people were less likely to make it to their 40th birthday. Infant morality was higher. People had lots of children to make sure that the family name lived on.

Answer 5

In poorer societies family size can increase wealth. If you have a farm and you need farm hands kids come in handy. Girls marry and tend to help support their parents(which is why in some countries the girls family pay a Dowry). In richer societies children are a burden. They hamper your ability to work and earn a wage they require your time and take away from your free time.

The ability to get contraceptives and afford them is another reason.

Answer 6

I'm not a math genius, it is simple, the less diapers you buy, the less clothes you need, the less shoes wear out, the less field trips you pay for, the less tuition you have to come up with. Parents who have less children have less expenses, when people become educated they figure this out. So unlike what people were saying years ago that we will be a Hispanic country, as Hispanics get educated they are having less and less children.I think preventive birth control should be one of the shining lights of the 20th century.

Answer 7

The decrease of children on a per couple basis is actually linked to higher female education. In general, the more education a female is, the fewer children they want to have.

Answer 8

In the richer countries ther are birth control at any doctor or any drug store. In third world countries as they are called their main birth control is to pull it out before you finish. ( Money talks) IN the U.S. the poor seem to have the highest birth rates.

Answer 9

They don't want to be bothered by having them. I think they think it will ruin thier bodies to have them. Thats why all these famous people shoose to adopt rather than having their own. Plus they hire people to raise them!!!!!!!!!!!1

Answer 10

Because rich people are smarter and have better things to do than laying around all day screwing.