Paper Summary:

The paper looks at reports that show the worldwide decline in fertility rates since the 1950s. The paper discusses the consequences of lower fertility rates and then focuses on the causes behind these trends, that involve changing economic factors, the ease of access to contraception and the trend towards the postponement of marriage and having a family when women began to become more concerned with career and advancement. The paper also looks at the causes of male infertility, including the exposure to toxins and chemicals, excessive alcohol consumption, marijuana and cocaine use, caffeine intake and various occupational hazards. The paper argues that actions to deal with the low fertility rates are becoming an economic and social necessity. The paper includes two color graphs.

Outline:
Overview and Background
Causes and Reasons
Solutions

From the Paper:

"An insight into the declining fertility rate in the Twentieth Century can be gleaned from a report from the New York Times in 1987; "Births totaled 3,731,000, down 18,000 from 1985. That represented 64.9 live births per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44, 2 percent below last year and the lowest rate ever recorded in the United States. "( U.S FERTILITY AT LOW AND LIFE EXPECTANCY AT HIGH, 1987) There are numerous studies and reports that show a decline in the fertility in the United States, particularly in the last quarter of the Twentieth Century." The nation's fertility rate dipped to a new low last year, with fewer than 65 births recorded per 1,000 women of childbearing age..." (US FERTILITY RATE DIPS TO NEW LOW, 1987)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Billari, F. C. (2005). Europe and Its Fertility: From Low to Lowest Low. National Institute Economic Review, (194), 56+. Retrieved October 25, 2008, from Questia database: http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5011387331
• Decline and Fall? after Years of Frightening Headlines about the Runaway Growth of the World's Population, Does the 'Birth Dearth' Mean We Face a Population Implosion?. (2005, March). Geographical, 77, 54+. Retrieved October 25, 2008, from Questia database: http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5008940022
• Eberstadt, N. (2001, March). The Population IMPLOSION. Foreign Policy 42. Retrieved October 25, 2008, from Questia database: http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5000958416
• Eversley, D. E. (1959). Social Theories of Fertility and the Malthusian Debate. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Retrieved October 25, 2008, from Questia database: http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=27821849
• Gianpiero D., De Rose and Racioppi F. ( 2005) Low fertility and limited diffusion of modern contraception in Italy during the second half of the twentieth. Journal of Population Research, May 1, 2005.

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