Question

Fertility is fundamentally a biological process. Yet, it shows substantial variation across countries and subgroups. Using your knowledge of the proximate determinants of fertility, discuss how and why fertility changes in more developed and less developed countries.

Answer 1

Fertility is a biological process.Studies have reported that there are plethora o factors that affect the fertility pattern of a population,either directly or indirectly.Age at menarche,age at marriage,age ayt first conception and number of conceptions and live birthhs are sole of the biological factors that determine fertility.The most common metric is the Total Fertility Rate or often simply 'fertility rate' which measures the average number of children per woman.The social culture,religious beliefs,economic prosperity and urbanisation within each country are likely to affect birth rates as well as abortion rates.Developed countries tend to have a lower fertility rate due to lifestyle choices associated with economic affluence where mortality rates are low,birth control is easily accessible and children often can become an economic drain caused by housing,education cost and other cost involved in bringing up children.Higher education and proffessional career often mean that women have children late in life.Fertility rates tend to be higher in poorly resourced countries but due to high maternal and perineal mortality,there is a reduction in birth rates.In developing countries,children are needed as a labour force and to provide care for their parentsin old age.In these countries,fertility rates are higher due to lackof access to contraceptives and generally lower levels of female education.