未分类题

Why So Many Children
In many of the developing countries in Africa and Asia， the population is growing fast. The reason for this is simple : Women in these countries have a high birth rate——from 3.0 to 7.0 children per woman. The majority of these women are poor， without the food or resources to care for their families. Why do they have so many children? Why don't they limit the size of their fami-lies? The answer may be that they often have no choice. There are several reasons for this.
One reason is economic. In a traditional agricultural economy， large families are helpful. Having more children means having more workers in the fields and someone to take care of the parents in old age. In an industrial economy， the situation is different. Many children do not help a family; instead， they are an expense. Thus， industrialization has generally brought down the birth rate. This was the case in Italy， which was industrialized quite recently and rapidly. In the early part of the twentieth century， Italy was a poor， largely agricultural country with a high birth rate. After World War Ⅱ， Italy's economy was rapidly modernized and industrialized. By the end of the century. the birth rate had dropped to 1.3 children per woman， the world's lowest.
However， the economy is not the only important factor that influences birth rate. Saudi Ara-bia， for example， does not have an agriculture-based economy， and it has one of the highest per capita incomes in the world. Nevertheless， it also has a very high birth rate （7.0）. Mexico and Indonesia， on the other hand， are poor countries， with largely agricultural economies， but they have recently reduced their population growth.
Clearly， other factors are involved. The most important of these is the condition of women. A high birth rate almost always goes together with lack of education and low status for women. This would explain the high birth rate of Saudi Arabia. There， the traditional culture gives women little education or independence and few possibilities outside the home. On the other hand， the improyed condition of women in Mexico， Thailand， and Indonesia explains the decline in birth rates in these countries. Their governments have taken measures to provide more education and oppor-tunities for women.