The Role of Diffusion Processes in Fertility Change in Developing Countries

The Role of Diffusion Processes in Fertility Change in Developing Countries
Author: Committee on Population
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 42
Release: 1999-04-12
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0309518881

This report summarizes presentations and discussions at the Workshop on the Social Processes Underlying Fertility Change in Developing Countries, organized by the Committee on Population of the National Research Council (NRC) in Washington, D.C., January 29-30, 1998. Fourteen papers were presented at the workshop; they represented both theoretical and empirical perspectives and shed new light on the role that diffusion processes may play in fertility transition. These papers served as the basis for the discussion that is summarized in this report.

Recent Fertility Trends in Sub-Saharan Africa

Recent Fertility Trends in Sub-Saharan Africa
Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 89
Release: 2016-03-18
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0309381193

Fertility rates and population growth influence economic development. The marked declines in fertility seen in some developing nations have been accompanied by slowing population growth, which in turn provided a window of opportunity for rapid economic growth. For many sub-Saharan African nations, this window has not yet opened because fertility rates have not declined as rapidly there as elsewhere. Fertility rates in many sub-Saharan African countries are high: the total rate for the region is estimated to be 5.1 births per woman, and rates that had begun to decline in many countries in the region have stalled. High rates of fertility in these countries are likely to contribute to continued rapid population growth: the United Nations projects that the region's population will increase by 1.2 billion by 2050, the highest growth among the regions for which there are projections. In June 2015, the Committee on Population organized a workshop to explore fertility trends and the factors that have influenced them. The workshop committee was asked to explore history and trends related to fertility, proximate determinants and other influences, the status and impact of family planning programs, and prospects for further reducing fertility rates. This study will help donors, researchers, and policy makers better understand the factors that may explain the slow pace of fertility decline in this region, and develop methods to improve family planning in sub-Saharan Africa.

Completing the Fertility Transition

Completing the Fertility Transition
Author:
Publisher: United Nations Publications
Total Pages: 507
Release: 2009
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9789211513707

This series focuses on population studies carried out by the United Nations, its specialized agencies and other organizations. This issue deals with the guidelines for the projection of fertility. The publication aims to increase understanding of likely fertility trends in the diverse countries of the world.

Diffusion Processes and Fertility Transition

Diffusion Processes and Fertility Transition
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 285
Release: 2001-11-15
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0309170281

This volume is part of an effort to review what is known about the determinants of fertility transition in developing countries and to identify lessons that might lead to policies aimed at lowering fertility. It addresses the roles of diffusion processes, ideational change, social networks, and mass communications in changing behavior and values, especially as related to childbearing. A new body of empirical research is currently emerging from studies of social networks in Asia (Thailand, Taiwan, Korea), Latin America (Costa Rica), and Sub-Saharan Africa (Kenya, Malawi, Ghana). Given the potential significance of social interactions to the design of effective family planning programs in high-fertility settings, efforts to synthesize this emerging body of literature are clearly important.

The Fertility Transition in Latin America

The Fertility Transition in Latin America
Author: José Miguel Guzmán
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 494
Release: 1996
Genre: Medical
ISBN:

The 1960s saw the start of a sustained process of declining fertility in Latin America resulting from radical social, attitudinal, and economic changes. There has been a clear trend towards more or less generalized behaviour of regulating fertility, coincident with a rise in the availability and use of methods of contraception. There are, however, important differences between and within the countries of the region, which are analysed in full in this volume. Whether one stratifies by demographic factors, place of residence, education, or social status, from the beginning of the transition, it seems that a variety of reproductive patterns were in existence. It is also clear that the process of transition is not yet complete and that in some important social groups, fertility is still high. This volume studies the process of transition from high to low fertility as it has occurred and is occurring in Latin America. It provides a general comparative overview of transition in the region in which the link between socio-economic development and declining fertility is explored. There are sections on the process through which the transition occurs, social determinants of fertility change, and the consequences of fertility decline. Large data sets from census and survey results for many countries and points in time are presented in over 150 tables and figures. The comparative analyses are complemented by five individual country studies in the final section.

Australia’s Fertility Transition

Australia’s Fertility Transition
Author: Helen Moyle
Publisher: ANU Press
Total Pages: 318
Release: 2020-02-03
Genre: History
ISBN: 176046337X

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, most countries in Europe and English-speaking countries outside Europe experienced a fertility transition, where fertility fell from high levels to relatively low levels. England and the other English-speaking countries experienced this from the 1870s, while fertility in Australia began to fall in the 1880s. This book investigates the fertility transition in Tasmania, the second settled colony of Australia, using both statistical evidence and historical sources. The book examines detailed evidence from the 1904 New South Wales Royal Commission into the Fall in the Birth Rate, which the Commissioners regarded as applying not only to NSW, but to every state in Australia. Many theories have been proposed as to why fertility declined at this time: theories of economic and social development; economic theories; diffusion theories; the spread of secularisation; increased availability of artificial methods of contraception; and changes in the rates of infant and child mortality. The role of women in the fertility transition has generally been ignored. The investigation concludes that fertility declined in Tasmania in the late 19th century in a period of remarkable social and economic transformation, with industrialisation, urbanisation, improvements in transport and communication, increasing levels of education and opportunities for social mobility. One of the major social changes was in the status and role of women, who became the driving force behind the fertility decline.

Unequal Family Lives

Unequal Family Lives
Author: Naomi R. Cahn
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 349
Release: 2018-08-02
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1108415954

This volume explores the causes and consequences of family inequality in the United States, Europe, and Latin America.

When We're Sixty-Four

When We're Sixty-Four
Author: Rafael Rofman
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 185
Release: 2020-10-23
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1464816050

Latin American countries are in the midst of a demographic transition and, as a consequence, a population-aging process. Over the next few decades, the number of children will decline relative to the number of older adults. Population aging is the result of a slow but sustained reduction in mortality rates, given increases in life expectancy and fertility. These trends reflect welcome long-term improvements in welfare and in economic and social development. But this process also entails policy challenges: many public institutions—including education, health, and pension systems and labor market regulations—are designed for a different demographic context and will need to be adapted. When We’re Sixty-Four discusses public policies aimed at overcoming the two main challenges facing Latin American countries concerning the changing demographics. On one hand, older populations demand more fiscal resources for social services, such as health, long-term care, and pensions. On the other, population aging produces shifts in the proportion of the population that is working age, which may affect long-term economic growth. Aging societies risk losing dynamism, being exposed to higher dependency rates, and experiencing lower savings rates. Nonetheless, in the interim, Latin American countries have a demographic opportunity: a temporary decline in dependency rates creates a period in which the share of the working-age population, with its associated saving capacity, is at its highest levels. This constitutes a great opportunity in the short term because the higher savings may result in increases in capital endowment per worker and productivity. For that to happen, it is necessary to generate institutional, financial, and fiscal conditions that promote larger savings and investment, accelerating per capita economic growth in a sustainable way.

Critical Decisions at a Critical Age

Critical Decisions at a Critical Age
Author: Manuelita Ureta
Publisher: Inter-American Development Bank
Total Pages: 264
Release: 2003-01-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1931003548

This book uses micro-level data for 18 Latin American countries to examine the choices adolescents make in three areas of behavior: their time allocation toward school and work, their sexual behavior and fertility, and their adoption of adult roles as they marry or cohabitate. Analyzing these issues comparatively across countries provides a richer contrast of the broad range of behavior among youth around the region than traditional country studies. The analysis pays particular attention to the accumulation of human capital, a key determinant of living standards at the individual level and social progress at the aggregate level.

The Demographic Dividend

The Demographic Dividend
Author: David Bloom
Publisher: Rand Corporation
Total Pages: 127
Release: 2003-02-13
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0833033735

There is long-standing debate on how population growth affects national economies. A new report from Population Matters examines the history of this debate and synthesizes current research on the topic. The authors, led by Harvard economist David Bloom, conclude that population age structure, more than size or growth per se, affects economic development, and that reducing high fertility can create opportunities for economic growth if the right kinds of educational, health, and labor-market policies are in place. The report also examines specific regions of the world and how their differing policy environments have affected the relationship between population change and economic development.