Chapter 6
The Fertility Transition
Chapter Outline• What Is Fertility?• Measuring Fertility• The Preconditions For A Decline In
Fertility• How Can Fertility Be Controlled?• Proximate Determinants Of Fertility
Chapter Outline• Explanations For High Fertility• Motivations For Lower Fertility
Levels• How Is The Fertility Transition
Accomplished?• Case Studies In The Fertility
Transition
Fertility Transition• Shift from high fertility, with minimal
individual control, to low fertility, which is entirely under a woman’s control.
• Involves a delay in childbearing and an earlier end to childbearing.
• Frees women and men from unwanted parenthood and allows them to space their children.
Number of Births PossibleAverage woman could bear a child
every 2.2 years - potential of 16 children per woman
• A woman can bear a child between the ages of 15 and 49.
• Each pregnancy lasts a little less than nine months.
• There’s an average of 18 months between the end of one pregnancy and the beginning of the next.
Number of Births Possible• Why 16 children per woman is
not likely: Pregnancy is dangerous - many
women would die before delivering their 16th child.
Pregnancy requires good nutrition and health care.
Hutterite Fertility
Period Measures of Fertility• Commonly used in population studies,
includes: Crude birth rate General fertility rate Child-woman ratio Age-specific fertility rate Total fertility rate Gross reproduction rate Net reproduction rate
Preconditions for a Substantial Fertility Decline
1. Acceptance of calculated choice as a valid element in marital fertility.
2. Perception of advantages from reduced fertility.
3. Knowledge and mastery of effective techniques of control.
Dealing with Unwanted Children
n Infanticide, or general neglect or inattention that leads to early death.
n Fosterage of child by another family that needs or can afford it.
n Orphanage - involves abandoning a child so she or he is likely to be found and cared for by strangers.
Intermediate Variables - Social Factors Influence on Fertility
• Exposure to intercourse. Formation and dissolution of unions.
• Age of entry into sexual unions.• Permanent celibacy.• Amount of reproductive period
spent after or between unions. • Unions broken by divorce,
separation, or desertion. • Unions broken by death.
Intermediate Variables - Social Factors Influence on Fertility
• Exposure to intercourse within unions. Voluntary abstinence. Involuntary abstinence (from
impotence, illness, unavoidable but temporary separations).
Coital frequency (excluding periods of abstinence).
Intermediate Variables - Social Factors Influence on Fertility
• Exposure to conception. Fecundity or infecundity, as affected by
involuntary causes, including breast-feeding.
Use or nonuse of contraception.•By mechanical and chemical means.•By other means.
Fecundity or infecundity as affected by voluntary causes (sterilization, medical treatment).
Intermediate Variables - Social Factors Influence on Fertility
• Factors affecting gestation and successful parturition. Fetal mortality from involuntary
causes (miscarriage). Fetal mortality from voluntary
causes (induced abortion).
Contraceptive MethodsPrimary User
Female Male Couple
Barrier
Diaphragm Cervical cap
Female condom Spermicides
IUDDiaphragm
Condom
Contraceptive MethodsPrimary User
Female Male Couple
Chemical
Precoital
Pill Mini-pill Implants
Injectables
PostcoitalEmergency
contraceptive pills
Contraceptive Methods
Primary User
Female Male Couple
Natural Breast-feeding
Withdrawal
AbstinenceFertility
awareness Oral/anal sex
Surgical Tubal ligation Vasectomy
Fertility Control: Women in the U.S.
15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44
Not using contraception
70.2 36.6 30.7 27.3 27.1 28.5
Female sterilize
0.3 3.9 17.0 29.4 40.9 49.8
Male sterilized 0.0 1.1 4.5 10.5 18.7 20.3
Pill 43.6 52.2 39.0 28.5 11.1 5.9
Fertility Control: Women in the U.S.
15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44
Implant 2.7 3.8 2.0 0.7 0.3 0.1
Injectable 9.7 6.2 4.2 1.8 1.1 0.3
IUD 0.0 0.3 0.7 0.8 0.1 1.3
Diaphragm 0.0 0.6 0.9 2.3 0.3 2.7
Condom 36.6 26.3 24.2 18.4 16.9 12.3
Fertility Control: Women in the U.S.
15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44
Female condom
0.0 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Periodic abstinence
1.3 0.9 1.7 3.2 2.9 2.5
NFP 0.0 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.3
Withdrawal 0.4 .3 3.8 2.9 3.2 2.0
Contraceptive Effectiveness
Method Theoretical
Effectiveness
% of Couples Pregnant During First Year of Use
None Chance 85.0
Implants (Norplant)
Virtually no failures
0.09
Injectables (Depo-Provera)
Virtually no failures
0.3
IUDVirtually no
failures2.0
Contraceptive Effectiveness
Method Theoretical
Effectiveness
% of Couples Pregnant During First Year of Use
PillVirtually no
failures3.0
Male condomVery few failures 12.0
Diaphragm/cap Some failures 18.0
Withdrawal Some failures19.0
Contraceptive Effectiveness
Method Theoretical
Effectiveness
% of Couples Pregnant During First Year of Use
Fertility awareness
Some failures 20.0
Female condom Some failures 21.0
Spermicides Some failures 21.0
Vaginal sponge Some failures 24.0
Abortion Rates Throughout the World
Country Abortion Rate Abortion Ratio
Russia 68 63
Belarus 68 62
Cuba 78 59
Ukraine 57 58
Vietnam 8344
Kazakhstan 44 41
Chile 50 35
Abortion Rates Throughout the World
Country Abortion Rate Abortion Ratio
Brazil 41 30
China 26 27
United States 23 26
Sweden 19 25
Korea (South) 20 25
Canada 16 22
Japan 13 22
Italy 11 21
Abortion Rates Throughout the World
Country Abortion Rate Abortion Ratio
England and Wales
16 20
New Zealand 16 19
France 12 18
Mexico 25 17
Egypt 23 16
Philippines 25 16
Germany 8 14
Abortion Rates Throughout the World
Country Abortion Rate Abortion Ratio
Israel 14 13
Spain 6 13
Nigeria 25 12
Belgium 7 11
Netherlands 6 11
Ireland 6 9
Tunisia 9 8
India 3 2
Contraceptive Use and Fertility
Education of Women and the Fertility Transition
Changes in ASFRs in Context of the Fertility Transition
Fertility Transition in England
Fertility Transition in China
Baby Boom, Baby Bust, and Baby Boomlet, U.S.
Fertility by Ethnic Group, U.S.
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