Weekly News Analysis (2024/5/26)

The world this week

-Iran’s president and foreign minister were killed in helicopter crash.
-Ireland, Norway and Spain formally recognized Palestine states. Israel responded by defining those three countries as “a reward for terrorism”
-The British president, Mr Rishi Sunak called for general elections on July 5h even he still has 6 month until the deadline.
-The demand of microchip boosted by the link of Meta and Microsoft has been rising dramatically. The biggest microchip leading company, Nvidia, has increased their revenues 262% year on year, 628% from last year.
-A 73 years old British man died in the Singapore Airlines’ aircraft that encountered a severe turbulence. Death from turbulence are very rare, normally big aircraft isn’t influenced by turbulence that much.

Why paying women to have more babies won’t work?

Seriousness of the low fertility rates

"1.6", this numbers indicates the numbers of children each women  in high-income country have in their entire lives on average. The birth rates in those countries has dramatically been decreasing. The negative effects of it are massive, fewer babies mean fewer populations as well. People aged over-65 years old were 26% in 2000, but it is predicting it will  jump up to doubled by 2025. Ageing and shrinking societies might lose military power and gradually face budgetary issues as the amount for pension and health care service might also be increasing.

Countries are taking political action to it but doesn't work

To solve those problem, several countries pour money into political fund. For example, South Korea is conducting handouts worth staggering $70,000 for each babies, but those politics does not work for this problem since there is a misapprehension.

Handouts for poor people can reduce child poverty, for example, and mothers who can take care their children are likely to work. However it is not the right answer, thinking the power to boost fertility rate is existing within them is totally misleading.

Common assumption of the issue

The thought that women run out of time to have as many babies as they wish before their childbearing years draw to a close explains why policies tend to focus on offering tax breaks and subsidised child care to make them to have more time to child and then woman would have more babies as many politicians believe, But it is not main cause of it and could not solve the very fundamentals of this issue.

The answer is that the decrease of fertility rate in developed countries is among younger and poorer women who are delaying when they start to have children, and who therefore have fewer overall. Today two-third 20s women without courage degree have fewer children compared to as women leaving education after high school in 1994.

Misleading policy

Some politicians might want to take a strategy to boost the fertility rate of poorer women since they also are likely affected by the financial aids. However, this focusing would lead a bad result for society since the pregnancy in early ages can badly effect both mother and child's health. So it is not the best way for society and world.

In addition, such policy needs a tons of thousands of money even the effect of policy that focuses on the minority people is too little to invest as America has only 8% of children who born to parents without university degrees. Sweden conducted extraordinary child care programme but it also only increases the average of the numbers of children per a women to 1.7%.

Conclusion

As shown above, boosting the fertility rates is not that easy way as many politicians have been struggling (seems still haven't been solved). The believe that women don't have enough time to care their children is not the actual cause. It might be caused by  their social norm, education systems, or policies etc. We should keep consider about the low fertility rate since it is not problem only for women, even man it is for all people in the world.