Greece’s low birth rate could be due to unemployment among women
Greece’s low birth rate could be due to unemployment among women
Unemployment among women is the main reason for low birth rate in Greece, says a HuffPost Greece report.
The report cites demographer Peter McDonald who believes the declining number of live births does not directly relate to poverty as much as it relates to unemployment among women.
McDonald uses the fertility rate as an indicator of his theory. The fertility rate refers to how many children a woman would give birth were she to live all her childbearing years at the current fertility rates for her age group. For developed countries to keep their populations from declining, the fertility rate must be about 2.0.
The fertility rate in Greece has been 1.1-1.3 since 2009 when the economic crisis started having an impact. However, McDonald argues, even before the crisis, Greece was among a number of developed countries with a fertility rate of 1.5.
Countries with a fertility rate of 1.5 include Italy, Spain, Germany and Austria, as well as Thailand and China. In the Scandinavian nations, as well as some French and English-speaking countries fertility rates are at 1.7, the HuffPost Greece report says.
Read further: http://greece.greekreporter.com/2016/01/28/unemployment-among-women-main-reason-for-low-birth-rate-in-greece/
