Europe UK (Commonwealth Union) – The rapid population decline particularly in Russia, Europe, North America, and East Asia has caused alarm bells as an extremely low birth rate well below 2 children per family coupled with a rapidly aging population has resulted in many governments desperately attempting to resolve the issue. For the last decade, many governments have offered incentives to encourage couples to have more children as in most the birthrate has gone from just 1 child per family to no children at all.
Fertility in England and Wales has declined to its least recorded level between 2010-20 – for females across all educational groups. A new study in Population Studies, carried out by John Ermisch Emeritus Professor from the University of Oxford, Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science revealed.
The total fertility rate declined from 1.94 in 2010 to 1.55 in 2021, as indicated by findings from the Office of National Statistics birth registration statistics. This was reflected in Europe as well according to the findings.
Professor Ermisch took into account data from a UK Household Longitudinal Study Understanding Society. Findings indicated ‘The substantial recent decline in period fertility was experienced irrespective of the education group.’
The findings showed that all females had lesser children which they did later in life compared to prior decades. Researchers indicated that the findings discovered a substantial reduction in each educational group described either by a female’s parents’ education on itself or by a female’s own education relative to their parents’ education.
Prior figures indicating that a higher level of education usually results in a lower birth were disputed in this study indicating that females of education levels had low fertility. Across the world, many couples have indicated the need for more financial benefits to assist with an increased number of children as the recent pandemic led to many lockdowns causing significant financial strains that further impacted the declining birth rate.
