Is there a correlation between income and number of children per household?

Question

I have noticed from my experience that families with lower incomes seem to have more kids than those with seemingly more income. Has anyone else thought this? Is there a connection?

Answer 1

There is a clear connection between this and it's not a recent phenom. Even in days before birth control the wealthy had generally much smaller families.

Today birth control has created negitive population growth in affluent nations. That and stresses of every day life. Then you have the old "life is so miserably why bring a child into this life" kind of attitude. There is even a group that seeks to wipe humanity off the face of the earth, somebody besides terrorists I mean. Forget the name of the group, but their stated goal is the elimanation of mankind.

The age old theory was that the poor needed larger families to survive as the children were put to work as soon as they were able. The larger the labor pool the better chances of survival. Though the rationale was weak even in older days, today in the US for example the rationale doesn't fit at all. True children do cause a bit of poverty. Having a child is not cheap. Many people are limited by child care in the pursuit of very demanding careers. So they put it off until it's too late. Some folks just don't want to have children at all. Mostly it's they wait until they are older to have children but something goes wrong. The plumbing ceases working, or they never find the just right time and the next thing they know they are 40 and still childless.

There is a deeper connection. It's not abundance of food. I've seen many a poor American with four or more children who looked like they at the neighbors, the folks down the block and a car on the way over to wherever I saw them. So there is something else environmental that goes with affluence which turns off something in our chemistry and reduces or elimanates fertility.

Answer 2

Yes. There is a correlation both in country statistics and individuals within countries. Poor countries have higher fertility rates than rich ones, and poor people have more children than rich people in the same country. In part it is because caring for children uses your time that might otherwise be devoted to making money and in part the higher a mothers earning potential the more income is sacrificed by having children so they have fewer. Professional women without children earn the same as men, but mothers earn less after adjusting for other variables.

There is an old saying "the rich get richer and the poor get children" and it is still true.

Answer 3

It's true. In general, people with higher income receive a higher return from their time, whether for employment or entpreneurship. But childbearing and rearing is very time-intensive. So foregone income is high. Moreover income increases the utility that can be obtained from leisure time (i.e. one can travel, go to the theater or opera, dine in expensive restaurants, etc.) Child-rearing being a non-leisure activity in general, is therefore less atractive. Finally higher income allows a household to gain access to retirement assets, so that children are no longer seen as a means of post-retirement support.

Answer 4

Although I have not looked at the other answers, it's a fairly simple question, when regarding economics. Here's the correlation. People who earn a low income have less incentive to work. Working is a disincentive for having kids. Basically, in economic terms, your OC (opportunity cost)for having children is lower. Thus, you have more kids. Pretty simple stuff.

Answer 5

little income can mean little education and that can mean a lot of unsafe sex

a poor education comes from a lack of money and a lot of familiar issues that not always solved

a vicious and sad circle

Answer 6

it's a statistical fact.