There are many misconceptions on what a family
is and the effects that having a big family can have on the world. Many people
believe that having children will be bad for the economy.
After World
War II many people were very excited and happy to have two wars over with, and
the whole world experienced something that is now referred to as the Baby Boom.
That is, all except Japan. The Baby Boom is when births exceeded two percent of
the total population within 18 years. There were 77.3 million babies born in
the United States of America and 450 million born worldwide. That's a lot of
babies! 😮
There was such an incline in population that people began to think that we now have an overpopulation. Paul R. Ehrlich wrote a book called The Population Bomb that argued that there would be an increase in population that would negatively effect society.
This book has contributed to the misconception of overpopulation, but it is not really happening. Many people, especially in European
countries, believe that the earth will be overpopulated. That is one reason
that so many families just want to have one or two children. Having three
children seems absurd. Some countries have even made laws against having a lot of children. They look at it as economically intelligent. In truth, having a lot of children does not have a negative impact on society or the economy. Having
less children can, however, have a negative impact on society. How? Let’s take a look!
Human Capital is the foundation of modern
economies. It is the capital and capacity the child requires to be competent
out in the market place. The more a child learns, the more he is worth.
Economists use this term to describe resources for a productive economy. The
economy shrinks if our Human Capital is down. If our population and Human
Capital declines there will be more need for everyone to work more and work
harder. This also means that the younger generation is going to have to work
harder because there are fewer of us. Young generations will also experience a
lack of a natural built-in community.
Depopulation can also have an effect on
retirement. When people get to the age of retirement they will have most of
everything that they need. However, there will be less of a guarantee that the
money you accumulated over the years will be there and it will also increase
the age of retirement. Instead of retiring at 62 a person might need to wait
until they are 68 years old to retire. Why? There are less people, therefore,
there are less people to occupy the different jobs that a community needs to
function. This makes the elderly need to work longer and the younger generation to have to work more and work harder.
We can also look at generations. Having less
children will decrease the size of our families. Think about it, you start out
with two people (that are grandparents) that have two children (that will be
parents) that have two children (with spouses). In three generations, with
everyone being married, you only have fourteen people. However, you have two
people that are grandparents that have four children (who become the parents)
that have five children each (with spouses). Now in three generations with
everyone being married you have fifty people. That helps stabilize our
population quite a bit. Do you see the difference in how the number of children a family has can impact our population?
(This is a picture of my extended family on my mother's side. We've also added quite a few little ones since this picture was taken. It's a few years old as you can tell by the date stamp. 😀 )
Don’t get me wrong, there are many circumstances
where people cannot have very many children, and some choose not to. These are
just some interesting points that I found fascinating in class this week.
( This is my immediate family. My parents, my siblings, and I.)
I love families. Families are very important and
the only things we will take with us after our life here on earth are our
relationships and our education. I come from what some people may say a big
family. I am the oldest of five children. I am so grateful for my big family
and the relationships that I have been able to build with each one of my siblings.
We love each other and by having so many siblings I have had a lot of natural
benefits. Being the oldest I have learned how to take on a leadership position,
I have learned how to negotiate, compensate, reach a consensus, share (time and
possessions), and I have learned how to make do with what I have. I would say that
thanks to my parent’s example and leadership and my wonderful siblings I have
also learned patience, charity, compassion, and service. This has helped me in
social situations as well. I have also been blessed with a huge extended family and I am so grateful for that as well!
Well, there you have it folks. Some interesting
things to think about. Please leave feedback and let me know if you have any
questions!
If you like documentaries, you can check out The New Economic Reality: Demographic Winter (where most of this information comes from) by clicking here: https://www.byutv.org/show/5e819b00-5e99-4bf4-931e-c154d3c2dc8d/new-economic-reality-demographic-winter
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