How To Make More BabiesWhat can governments do to make fertility rates go up?
Posted Thursday, Sept. 13, 2007, at 6:35 PM ET
In Russia's Ulyanovsk province, amorous couples got the day off on Wednesday to have sex for the official Day of Conception. Anyone who has a baby nine months from now—on June 12, Russia Day—can compete for money, an SUV, and other prizes. The program is part of Russia's effort to combat the population decline that's been taking place for 15 years. Other nations in Europe and Asia also want to raise their fertility rates (PDF). What's the best way to convince people to have more kids?
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StumbleUponThrow cash at new parents, and make it easy for them to balance their careers and families. Government benefits—in the form of tax credits, for example, or state-run day care—can make raising children more manageable. Last year, Vladimir Putin proposed a number of benefits designed to encourage large families, like long maternity leaves and $8,900 cash subsidies for stay-at-home mothers who have a second child. Some governments go one step further, doling out dating advice along with financial incentives for babies.
In France and the Scandinavian countries, which have some of the highest fertility rates in Europe, parents get lots of government help. A French maman has at least 16 weeks of mandatory, paid maternity leave, as well as guaranteed job security and—if she has a third child—a monthly stipend of up to 1,000 euros for a year. In Norway, women are entitled to 10 months at their full salary or a year at 80 percent. Because these policies have been in place for decades, the countries' fertility rates are approaching 2.1, roughly the point where a population can sustain itself without immigration. Other nations are emulating this approach: Spain now offers a 2,500 euro bonus for every baby born. South Korea, which has one of the world's lowest fertility rates, shells out $3,000 per couple for in-vitro fertilization. And in Germany, where women have an average of 1.3 babies, Angela Merkel proposed up to 1,800 euros a month for stay-at-home parents, and more day-care centers to improve the public image of working moms—who have long been dubbed Rabenmütter, or "raven mothers." (Countries plan these financial incentives carefully to avoid drawing in too many poor parents—and creating a bigger lower class.)
A few governments get right in your business when it comes to meeting mates. In Japan, the state sponsors speed dating (along with child-care reforms). Singapore provides a state matchmaking program catering to university grads—and relationship advice from the government.
So, will Russia's Day of Conception have any effect? Seventy-eight babies were born in Ulyanovsk province's hospitals in the month of June after last year's whoopee holiday. But that's just a 4.5 percent increase from before, and the limited measure probably won't make a dent in the population decline. The bar was a little higher back in the 1940s, when Stalin declared any woman who gave birth to 10 or more children a "Hero Mother."
Got a question about today's news? Ask the Explainer.
Explainer thanks Jonathan Grant of RAND, Carl Haub of Population Reference Bureau, Geoffrey McNicoll of the Population Council, and Lisa Neidert at the University of Michigan.
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Remarks from the Fray:
Compare United States birth rates and those of any country in Europe, or European countries and the third world, and you'll see that government support is far from the best way to increase fertility rates. In fact, in many ways it is counter-productive.
People have babies in the third world and to some extent in the United States because they are uncertain about their future. The best thing they can do to ensure a comfortable old age is to have children who will help support them.
The European social contract is counter-productive because it ensures a comfortable old age to everyone. That removes a good reason to have children.
So, if Europe wants to increase fertility rates, it should become more like the United States: tax cuts for the rich, bankrupt social welfare programs, uncertain health care.
--jonawebb
(To reply, click here.)
Isn't it ironic that, in just a few days, Slate publishes an article about how we need to have less babies and then one about how a country is desperate to have more?
It's easy to think there's too many of us in a country like the U.S. since so many people immigrate here. But one look at Russia, Ukraine, or any other Eastern European country shows that in a couple generations (if that) there will hardly be enough people to maintain their infrastructures. The same goes for China. Sure, there's way too many people there now, but do the math: one child for every couple means, in one generation, the population is cut in half. On top of that, people would kill off or abort daughters so they could have sons. This means there's way more men than women, which means a lot of men aren't going to get a chance to reproduce. Basically, because of articles like this, I don't think we need to worry about over population.
--jimiwiz
(To reply, click here.)
I lived in Japan for a while during 2005-6, and am still in a relationship with a Japanese woman I met during that time. While I was in Japan, the topic of their terribly-low birthrate (approximately 1.4 children per woman) came up a number of times both in friendly discussion and in their mass media.
I must say that a little government-sponsored speed-dating isn't going to solve their problems, which are:
1: Japanese men are still, in general, sexist pigs. Think 1950's America.
2: Raising children is much more expensive than in the US.
Women in Japan, even smart, educated ones, are unfortunately given a horrible choice between career and family. It is very difficult to juggle the two, and to a large degree, companies won't even give women positions of responsibility (and high pay) in the first place, on the presumption that they will just quit their job in a few years to get married and have kids. Of course, this leads to a viscious circle, as the women given crappy, low-paying jobs that they are over-qualified for often DO quit their job when they have children precisely because the pay is low. Many young women in Japan have basically eschewed the idea of getting married and focused on their career (however stunted it is due to the sexism), resulting in large numbers of women with no children. This is made worse by the fact that most single women live with their parents until they get married, resulting in lots of young women becoming rather parasitic, enjoying the free rent and food, and spending their crappy wages on nothing but fun, travel and fashion. All of a sudden, they are 35, and realize that it might be too late to have kids even if they wanted to.
Combined with the fact that it is incredibly expensive to raise children in Japan because of the high cost of living and the private "after school" schools most children attend in order to prepare for exams, the large number of childless women results in a very low birth rate. Lots of zeros, quite a few ones, some twos....but almost no threes or fours to offset the low numbers. Indeed, I can think of only one person I met under 40 with more than one sibling in nearly two years.
Japan will need to make some very fundamental changes in order to stem its population decline, starting with the rampant sexism that still pervades their society.
--Sakura
(To reply, click here.)
At a time when burgeoning world population is putting a big strain on resources, countries are pushing people to have more children rather than simply solving the problem through immigration. They might as well say it aloud -- no they don't just want more workers etc, they want more people just like THEMSELVES, dang foreigners just won't do! Okay, maybe nobody wants to go to Russia, but hard to believe France or Scandinavian countries cannot satisfy their labor needs by welcoming people from poor countries which have high population growth and substantial unemployment among its youth!
--konark_girl
(To reply, click here.)
(9/15)