Fertility decline in Asian countries

Abstract

It is evident that fertility has continued to decline in every part of the world and it has reached the replacement level especially in Europe, the Americas, Most of Asia and the Middle East. Although there are regions in Africa that have reached this level, many countries in Sub-Sahara Africa have not reached the replacement level.

Fertility decline in Asian countries started to be evident towards the latter part of the last century. In the 1960’s fertility began to decline in some countries and regions, such as Hong Kong, the Republic of Korea and Taiwan together with Singapore. The speed with which the fertility decline occurred was different among Asian countries.

Declines in most countries have generally been concomitant with the rise in the pace of industrialisation and relative economic prosperity. One of the important factors explaining the fertility difference in Asian countries is government intervention. In developed countries fertility transition from high to low birth rates was achieved without government intervention.