Why is the population low in the first world countries?

Question

Why is the population low in the first world countries?

Answer 1

We tend to have two children later in life, a high divorce and abortion rate both contribute.

I find your question very interesting as I can't help but wonder about our future, is our culture going to collapse, who will pay the taxes, look after the older people, work in industry etc?.

Some countries offer a baby bonus/incentive to encourage a higher birth rate. The only people that are going to get pregnant for 2 grand or whatever the incentive is, are the undereducated.

Our politicians cannot openly tell women to have more children as they may well get branded misogynist and loose their jobs, so they will mention family values or back to basics a couple of times a year instead.

I also think having a larger undereducated underclass with eroded industrial relations laws in place is the only way for first world countries to compete with emerging economies and that this is the direction that we are heading in.

Answer 2

We have more fun things to do other than procreation.

Religion is not pervasive

Women control their reproduction

Not necessarily in this order...

Answer 3

My theory is that us first world country inhabitants are higher in the evolutionary chain therefore we do not need to breed asd much as less fortunate countries.

Answer 4

Because of education, contraception, better opportunities for women, more choices, higher standard of living.

Answer 5

Because Africa, Egypt and Iran are now all deserts.

Answer 6

Because we are "family planning" ourselves out of existence!

A "population explosion" is a myth everywhere except for 3rd world countries.  The aid and food that goes to those countries is feeding an enormous explosion of people.

Meanwhile, in Europe, Japan and the USA, birth rates have dropped far below that needed to just maintain population.  This is a disaster in the making since 3rd world countries rely on us to feed them and give them medicine to stay alive.

Answer 7

because we have contraception

Answer 8

first logic dat i want to say is dat, because it's high in the 3 world countries

People are more educated, and since they have jobs, dey wudn't have d time to u know...in d oder world its more of a pastime

Answer 9

IT'S NOT!!!  Even the first world is massively overpopulated and even now draws more from the Earth than can be sustained.  To me, more than 8 million people living in New York City or London or Tokyo is overpopulation!

Although the population is enormous in some third world countries like India and China (which are really developing countries now) it's also enormous in first world countries like the USA (third in largest population).  of the list below of the 23 largest countries I can easily pick out six as clear 1st world countries (USA, Japan, Germany, France, the UK, Italy).  Mexico, Russia, and Brazil are at least developing nations.  Mexico has a GDP as big as India or South Korea.

"This is a listing of the 23 most populous countries in the world (those having a population over fifty million). Data are estimates from mid-2006.

China - 1,313,973,713

India - 1,095,351,995

United States - 298,444,215 (as of Nov. 2006 - 300,176,035)

Indonesia - 245,452,739

Brazil - 188,078,227

Pakistan - 165,803,560

Bangladesh - 147,365,352

Russia - 142,893,540

Nigeria - 131,859,731

Japan - 127,463,611

Mexico - 107,449,525

Philippines - 89,468,677

Vietnam - 84,402,966

Germany - 82,422,299

Egypt - 78,887,007

Ethiopia - 74,777,981

Turkey - 70,413,958

Iran - 68,688,433

Thailand - 64,631,595

Democratic Republic of the Congo - 62,660,551

France - 60,876,136

United Kingdom - 60,609,153

Italy - 58,133,509"

Answer 10

Because the people that live in them have better access to knowledge about protection and birth control and also wait longer to conceive children because in some of them, early/young pregnancies it is culturally unacceptable.

Answer 11

Because people in first world countries are educated enough to realize it is very expensive to have and raise children.

Answer 12

They keep a steady population because they use family planning. People in the third world countries do not know how to manage their families, and with more children coming, the harder to raise and take care of them because they need to find lots of food and the money to bring them to education. But in the first world countries, parents only have one to three children because its easier to take care and raise them properly. Also, people in the first world countries are more responsible.

Answer 13

The population isn't low.  The current birth rate is however.  But then again first world countries also have a lower mortality rate (few people die).

Some other plausible but not proven speculations involve the way economies differ.  In rural areas where agriculture is predominant it pays in the long run to have more kids so they can contribute in labor when they grow up.  Some other speculations involve education and birth control.

Whether or not people choose to have more kids or less kids depends on their family values I guess.

Answer 14

Simple..The less children you have, the more money you save!