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No cultures directly favor low or negative birthrates. But we've known since the 1800s that it follows from female education (and this seems independent of cul
by Chu4eeno 4mo ago
No cultures directly favor low or negative birthrates.
But we've known since the 1800s that it follows from female education (and this seems independent of culture, it was first observed in France, but you can see the same trend in any African country, or even Iran), which is favored.
- hyhatqtv 4mo agoFrance went through a demographic transition 100+ years earlier than all other European countries and then had a population boom in the 50s and 60s. I doubt an average French women was less educated in 1960 than in the mid 1800s. I don’t think it’s that straightforward, material conditions in combination with massively lower mortality in all age groups and a shift in social values must be playing a significant part
- solumunus 4mo agoIt’s simply that for the first time in human history women have alternative options that don’t suck. That’s literally it. Birth rates will remain high only in socially conservative highly religious countries. Liberal democracies? No chance.
- hyhatqtv 4mo agoIt would be interesting to see to what extent exactly this is accurate (of course to a certain extent it is) if the majority of the population in liberal democracies had the option of having more than 1-2 children without massively compromising their material wellbeing (or the future of their offspring due to the lack of resources).
- zdragnar 4mo agoThere's a few confounding factors: - larger percentage of population living in urban centers without the room for larger families - full time employment for both spouses becomes necessary as cost of living increases - delayed marriage and delayed age of first child means fewer children can be safely carried to birth The "highly liberal democracies" is just pleasant coding for "consumerized".
- zdragnar 4mo agoChina's (now defunct) one child policy begs to differ.