Why do third worlders breed excessively large families?

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Damn straight. Unit 4 :tongue:

However, it has been replicted in places like S. Korea - plus birth rates are falling in nations increasing in prosperity. Although it may not happen in a textbook manner - there is a trend.

Yes there is a trend but it't totaly different. Most LEDCs start with a much larger population, they get technology much quicker because its imported instead of slowly discovered meaning that the death rate decreases much faster than it did in countries that developed earlier, and in africa HIV/AIDs plays a huge part in pretty much all the demographic drivers but it totaly ignored in the DTM.

There are signs that many countries in africa are experiencing the DTM but instead of the fertility dropping to the levels that europe has seen they are flattening out at much higher levels, there is a HUGE difference between 2 and 3 children per woman on average when it comes to growth.

The DTM also ignores other things to do with fertility, for example in india their population grows much faster that you would expect from just looking at the TFR because the average age of having children is much lower. In india women tend to have children first and have a career later, whereas in europe women tend to have a career then have children. this means that the generation size is much smaller which has a huge impact on the population growth rate (Sabu Padamas et al wrote a paper on it, i might be able to find it if you're interested.)

Reply 41

Jiten88

Well in India and China, maybe not so much in China now, but couples keep on having babies until they get a boy. I know a family in India (personally) and they had 7 children just to get a boy!

Reply 42

Chengis

Original post by nativeLondoner

Out of necessity or just plain sloppiness/vanity?

I dont buy the 'lack of access to conctraception' malarkey either..

Vanity? Are you a complete moron?

People in third-world countries are poor.

They need income.

Most are farmers.

If you have one child who is a female (like China's one-child policy) then you are stuffed.

You will lead a poorer life with one child.

The benefits of having more children far outweigh the costs.

Children are needed to support the household. In most third world countries there are high numbers of orphans. Single mothers aren't given state welfare. They rely on their children to survive. Females will have a hard time looking after themselves let alone their wider family. Therefore children are required to look after the vulnerables in the family as well as themselves.

In the developed world and most of the TSR community children live off their parents and are generally spoilt in many aspects of your lives. You do not need to work from a young age. You do not need to support your family. You just go out clubbing, stay indoors all day or might have a part-time job but generally leeching off your parents. You have an education. Third world kids don't. With your education you can then fend for yourselves. They can't. You leave your parents when you go to University. They stay with their parents until they die.

I greatly respect third-world families and for you to say they have children out of vanity is the stupidest trash I have heard and indicates your absolute idiocy when it comes to the world outside your house. I recommend you go on one of those 'eye opening' tours of countries like India that many middle class brits do and see for yourself why they have to do what they do to survive.

If you think I have generalised or been sexist here, I really couldn't give a ****.

Reply 43

JustSmile

Original post by nativeLondoner

Out of necessity or just plain sloppiness/vanity?

I dont buy the 'lack of access to conctraception' malarkey either..

Your terminology is disgusting. It's rather unfortunate your parents felt the need to 'breed'.

Reply 44

Mujeriego

Original post by Koobideh

It's a mixture of religion and survival. Religion because a lot of fundamentalist Christians and Muslims consider it a sin to use contraception. Survival because they think having more children means bringing more money and resources into the family, and more people to look after them when they are old and unable to work in a country with no welfare or pensions from the government.

Even fundamentalist Islam allows the use of contraceptives. A certain verse extolling the virtues of coitus interruptus springs to mind. It is almost entirely down to poverty and lack of (sex) education in Muslim SSA and Hindu India that leads to unsustainable birth rates.

Reply 45

username133326

seriously, do people like OP not listen in KS3 geography!?

Reply 46

danny111

Many people saying - 'oh more children means more people can work' - forget that this statement assumes that a child can at least produce enough food for itself. And yet many poor people who at least can feed themselves start having kids and once they have 3,4 or 5 kids they cant feed their family anymore. in fact, i would go as far as hypothesising that if a family had 2 and not 5 children the 2 children would have a lot more advantages of surviving because they have more food and so are stronger. the argument only works if the family can use those children productively.

TL;DR - more children = more workers, is not generally correct.

Reply 47

qasman

Original post by nativeLondoner

Out of necessity or just plain sloppiness/vanity?

I dont buy the 'lack of access to conctraception' malarkey either..

haha you don't buy it??? you do realise it's like one of THE major factors right? That, combined with religion, having kids to help with work and lack of education about contraception...

Reply 48

Callipygian

Original post by Chengis

Most are farmers.

If you have one child who is a female (like China's one-child policy) then you are stuffed.

Actually the one child policy always allows farmers to have a second child if their first child is disabled or a girl.

The "one child" rule is usualy only implimented in densely populated areas, ie cities.

Additionally there are other exceptions to the rule, if a couple are both "only children" they are allowed two children in most cases.

But i am by no means standing up for the chinese government, as the one child policy does lead to a lot of very late abortions, and infanticide (although there is only a very small amount of this its still evil) i just want to point out that it is not as strict as most people think.

Reply 49

Legen...dary!!

Haha this question has been bothering me for ages.. No offence but they're a bit to blame for their situation..don't undertake more than u can handle :/

Reply 50

Chengis

Original post by Callipygian

Disabled kids are usually sent to state-run orphanages.

All births should be done via a doctor in a surgery who takes a note, certificate etc..chinese law states that. If you llive in the countryside you are obliged to visit the nearest doctor. People escape to the countryside to have natural births without the aid of a doctor but many are found out or live in fear.

I'm not even Chinese but I was born in a third-world country and most of my family live in a third world country. My parents have had to worked to get to where they are in Britain taking virtually no uneeded benefits from the government, are both fully self-employed and pay taxes and have done so since the first year they came to this country. I have been brought up with the same beliefs and it disgusts me when I either see benefit thieves or spoilt kids wasting their lives when I think about all those who are far more deserving of the opportunity.

Reply 51

Melanie-v

1 - culture: in some places, more children = better
2 - pensions: children support the parents once they're old
3 - workers: children can work
4 - no contraception: women aren't always seen as equal, and sex is part of the "wife package", so children come with it.
5 - high death rate in children: if you have one child and it dies, you have none left. If you have 5, you're likely to have more left.

those are the ones that spring to mind.

Reply 52

Chengis

I applaud your wisdom on the religion of Islam Imam James.

You should be giving lectures concerning your vast and superior knowledge of this religion at the local mosque.

Reply 53

Vanny17

These are some factors- Cultural and religious outlook, Political, Birth control e.g they don't use contraceptives, Economic, social status (Some countries give high regards to people with high social status). Their population is at an increasing rate due to these factors but it is also decreasing due to age expentancy at birth, health care facilities, lack of food etc. A demographic transition occurs. So to conclude, although birth rate are high, death rate are also high. This is balanced by immigration and emigration into and out of the country.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 54

Vanny17

Original post by Fragile_Illusions

If they live in little villages where they have to walk miles each day for water, don't expect there to be a Boots selling condoms.

You do know that Africa is not a jungle and that they have food, water etc. Not everything in the news is true. Majority of Africans (not generalising by the way) are well to do people. Here is a picture of a an african house (note: I am not saying that all africans are rich just impying that not ALL are poor) :

http://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-88311.0.html

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 55

LiamTheKook

Original post by lovely_me

Are you aware of what contraception is? :facepalm2:

Wearing a condom doesn't really affect how you intrinsically view marriage or women.

I apologise for the misunderstanding, my post was awkwardly worded. What I meant was that men in some third world societies see sex with a woman/wife as a social norm which is very much expected of men. They of course do not have access to contraception and ultimately women continue to have children.

Reply 56

Antonia87

Because they're largely ill-educated and very religious.

Reply 57

Fragile_Illusions

Original post by Vanny17

I don't think the people who live there are going to be the ones with massive families though.

Reply 58

Uzzy?

I guess larger families means more workers so they can grow more things to live off or more can work and bring income.

Reply 59

ChilliBonbon

Ditto to someone else who said demographic transition. (a level bio).
Culture - it can be seen as better to have more kids. We were also told in bio that people will because of religion, though I don't totally think that's true. Culture and religion are often confused.
It is wrong though I agree.
I don't understand why OP has been negged though. I pos repped as it's a valid point.