Declining fertility trends: a cause for concern

Declining fertility, forecasted to reach 1.8 by 2100, has become a major concern in developed as well as developing countries. Low fertility rates have serious consequences in long run, posing a threat to social structures and economic stability along with creating burden on work force resulting in lack of labour and societal challenges. In various nations, fertility rates have fallen much below replacement levels, causing governments to fear adverse economic consequences. Concerned with shrinking population, governments throughout the world have responded to this by funding pronatalist policies like paid parental leave, tax breaks, and baby bonuses. Immigration policies have also been adopted by developed countries. However, the success of these initiatives is debatable, with research indicating impact to some extent on reversing the fertility reduction. It is important to recognize this as a complex phenomenon and impact of the pronatalist policies must be interpreted in light of the factors that underlie the wide-ranging and multifaceted disparities and influencing factors interacting among themselves. Strategies considering prevailing social norms, gender equality, women force participation and other contextual factors may lead to substantial improvement in increasing total fertility rate (TFR).