AEG114 FINAL ASSIGNMENT FRONT SHEET

Qualification Academic English 02

Unit number and title AEG114 – Academic English 02

Submission date March 14, 2024 (23:59) Date Received 1st submission March 14, 2024

Re-submission Date March 22, 2024 (12:00pm) Date Received 2nd submission

Student Name Ngo Minh Anh Student ID GBD230070

Class BM1103 Assessor name Huynh Thi Minh Tam

Student declaration
I certify that the assignment submission is entirely my own work and I fully understand the consequences of plagiarism. I understand that
making a false declaration is a form of malpractice.

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Student’s signature

Ngo Minh Anh

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SOCIAL LIFE AND DECLINING BIRTH RATE IN
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
AEG114 – Final Assignment

MARCH 14, 2024

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 Table of Contents

Abstract ........................................................................................................................................................6

I. Introduction..........................................................................................................................................7

II. Literature review ..............................................................................................................................7

1. Social life factors contributing to declining birth rate .................................................................7

2. The impacts on society ..............................................................................................................10

3. Possible solutions.......................................................................................................................10

III. The declining of birth rate in developed countries ....................................................................10

IV. Conclusion .................................................................................................................................12

References ..................................................................................................................................................13

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 Table of Figures

Figure 1: The society (source: Adobe Stock) ............................................................................................. 6

Figure 2: The fertility rate according to female schooling (Kim, 2023) ..................................................... 8

Figure 3: Rural vs Urban (source: LinkedIn) .............................................................................................. 9

Figure 4: Forecasts of the influences of Covid on Births (source: Brookings) .......................................... 9

Figure 5: The birth rate of Korean, Japan, China and UK from 1960-2021 (source: The World Bank, 2022)
................................................................................................................................................................... 11

Figure 6: Japan welcoming Vietnamese workers (source: Vietnam Plus) ............................................... 12

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 Abstract

This essay delves into the intricate relationship between social life and the phenomenon of declining birth
rates in developed countries. This issue will be thoroughly discussed through investigating many aspects
of life that affect fertility rate, namely economic, social life, and technology. It can be evident that the
burden of economy, the pressure from other individuals and the high cost from using modern technology
in hospital will have certain impacts on the giving birth rate. This point is then followed by examples of
the reality of birth rate in many advanced countries such as Korea or Japan. Ultimately, the essay will
provide information about possible results and challenges that this problem can cause to those countries
and the whole world in the future. Therefore, appropriate actions and solutions from many organizations
and governments will also be suggested in this essay.

Figure 1: The society (source: Adobe Stock)

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 I. Introduction

As the world is developing vastly in every aspect of life, the obstacles that come with it are also increasing,
among which is the decline in the birth rate. This issue can be seen in most developed countries as they
are decreasing every year, causing worries for the governments and societies. A too low fertility rate can
result in shrinking in labor workforce, less consumption, weakening a country's economic stand and many
relating problems.

The true reason for the low birth rate is yet to be found, as it is considered a highly complex issue that is
influenced by many reasons. In this essay, the relationship between aspects of social life and the decline
in birth rate will be discussed carefully, followed by a demonstration of the impacts that it can have on
societies with suggested measures and solutions for the matter.

II. Literature review

The vast decline in the birth rate of developed countries has drawn a lot of attention in recent years. As
society is improving in all aspects with the advancement of technology, economic growth, and diverse
cultures, it can impose big effects on the fertility rate of many nations. This literature review aims to
provide a comprehensive overview of the relationship between social life and declining birth rate, looking
into the underlying factors, and potential measures forward.

1. Social life factors contributing to declining birth rate

Among the factors that greatly affect an individual’s decision in forming a family, Economics is one of
them as it will decide whether the family’s overall living standard can meet the expectation of society or
not (Sobotka, 2017). In developed countries, the more the economic improves, the more birth rate
decreases as increasing economic is equal to higher living expenses, lack of affordable housing, more
expensive childcare services and many more (Nargund, 2009). In addition, many studies have shown that
women’s desire for work-life balance and their increasing participation in the workforce are also a
significant factor in the drop of fertility rate (Beck & Beck-Gernsheim, 2019).

Moreover, as women are becoming more and more independent, they became uneasy with the ideas of
conservative gender roles that are imposed on women, among which is to bear a child (Billari et al., 2020).
Technological advancements can also influence reproductive behaviors and family size preferences as it
plays a vital role in medical aspects (Balbo et al., 2013). For instance, in the past, many households tried

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to give birth to a boy no matter how many times they had been pregnant before; however, with the help
of advanced technology nowadays, choosing a gender that the household yearning for is not impossible
anymore, which also leads to the declining in the attempts of getting pregnant (Kubitza and Gehrke, 2018).

The impacts of social networks, peer influences, and cultural norms on shaping an individual’s
reproductive choices are also important to investigate due to many professionals (Nitsche & Grunow,
2016). By seeing someone who is doing better in their career path and travelling to different places, the
urge to experience the same thing in life might appear and make a person not wanting to form a family
early as they want to focus on themselves first (Mull, 2023). This case greatly affects women, especially
in this era where the ladies are still fighting for their rights in a variety of aspects in life, including career
prospects and working life.

Higher education levels employment opportunities are also associated with the delay of childbearing and
lower fertility rate, as more people will be aware of taking precautions to avoid pregnancy, and more
people with career aspirations will choose a different lifestyle apart from having a family (Kulu, 2014).
According to many studies, the number of women attending higher education and gaining achievements
are increasing drastically, and these women tend to have less to no children and delayed marriages
compared to others (Brand and Davis, 2011).

Figure 2: The fertility rate according to female schooling (Kim, 2023)

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Moreover, many countries have been carrying out urbanization and having an alternative tendency of
family structures which have contributed a lot to the changes in the birth rate within developed societies
(Lerch, 2018). Even though there still have been no fully clear explanations of how low fertility rates and
urbanization are related, researches have shown that the fertility rate of urban women is 11% lower than
that of rural women, perhaps due to the education accessibility and the economic growth of each area
(White et al., 2008). Moreover, many households are choosing to have a family of four members or less
– a nuclear family, since they believe it is more sufficient and cost-saving in this continuously rising-price
world, hence the inflation (Lerch, 2018).

Figure 3: Rural vs Urban (source: LinkedIn)

To make matters worse, the pandemic Covid-19 also contributed to an immense decrease in birth rate,
causing a shrinking in the growth of population and creating an loveless lifestyle for many youngers
because of quarantines, which can lead to them not having any children in the future (Bricker, 2021).

Figure 4: Forecasts of the influences of Covid on Births (source: Brookings)

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 2. The impacts on society

The declining birth rates can have negative impacts on many aspects of social life, especially for the
developed countries with exceptionally high rate such as Korea or Japan. Economically, a shrinking labor
force and increasing old people that will be retiring can pose challenges for sustainable development and
pension systems (Myrskylä et al., 2013). It will also creating a downgrade in consumers, which reduces
the opportunities in expanding the domestic market a country’s economic competitiveness (ISA, 2019).
Moreover, in the next few years, if the birth rate of those developed countries does not show any sign of
improving, jobs that are heavy on both physical and mental health will be in great shortage, leading to a
greater threat for the countries’ growth (Hussain et al., 2019).

Regarding to the social aspect, an aging population resulting from heavily declining birth rate will make
changes in the policy in healthcare, social care and even the traditional roles of a person, as many of them
are choosing to have less child or no children at all (Dyson & Murphy, 2019). Even in today’s world, the
teenagers are already embracing beliefs such as having children is a burden and draining compared to a
childless life, these youngsters would refuse to have a child despite being paid (North, 2023).

3. Possible solutions

To address the challenges posed by declining birth rates, many approaches are suggested and mainly
carried out by the government. Some countries decided to bring in new policies for jobs and organizations,
such as enhancing childcare provisions, and promoting family-friendly workplaces, which have shown
promise in encouraging fertility and avoid demographic decline (Frejka & Jones, 2015). Furthermore,
increasing the hospitality on welcoming foreign workforce and investment will help alleviate the issue of
labor shortage in the most way possible (Lutz et al., 2019). Culturally, if a women’s career path, life
choices and health are not badly affected and pressured by surrounding people about having a child, the
idea of having one will not appear too harsh and can be chosen by more women eventually (Morgan &
Niraula, 2011).

III. The declining of birth rate in developed countries

Looking at the figures below, it is evident that many developed countries, including Korea, Japan, China,
and the UK, have shown a sharp decrease in birth rate since the 1960 according to the World bank data.

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 Figure 5: The birth rate of Korean, Japan, China and UK from 1960-2021 (source: The World Bank, 2022)

The decline in fertility rate now seems to be a trend for advanced countries. In Korea, the situation got so
worse that it became a national emergency, due to the fact that only 249,000 babies were born in 2022
while it needs to take at least 500,000 new born babies for Korean’s labor market to function (Lee, 2024).
To answer the question “Why are young Koreans not having children?”, many youngsters believed that
being parents is an invaluable thing in life, and focusing on both a stable career and having a marriage is
nearly impossible due to incredibly high living standard nowadays (Cho, 2021).

In Japan, it also appears that this issue is at emergency level to the nation with similar reasoning to the
young Korean people, leading to an even bigger population of old people in the near future (The Guardian,
2024). With high risk of labor shortages as the population is growing old and decreasing, Japan
government is expanding the foreigner workforce even broader every year with a significant amount of
marketing campaigns in many countries, especially the Southeast Asia (The Japan Times, 2023).
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 Figure 6: Japan welcoming Vietnamese workers (source: Vietnam Plus)

Until now, despite various measures that have been taken by the governments in those developed
countries, a highly effective method that can change drastically the birth rate is yet to be found as diverse
reasons are to blamed for such situations (Kim, 2024). Nevertheless, these governments would not put a
stop to finding the right solution for the declining birth rate in the future.

IV. Conclusion

In conclusion, the declining birth rate is a complex issue that is influenced by various factors in every
aspect of life, including social, economic, cultural, and technological factors. By investigating deeply into
the possible causes of such problems, suitable actions can be taken to improve and adapt in the future to
help enhance the economy of both the world and the country. Collaboration, inclusivity, and evidence-
based solutions can be the key to deal with this demographic challenge effectively and ensuring the well-
being of future generations.

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References

Brand, J.E. and Davis, D. (2011) ‘The Impact of College Education on Fertility: Evidence for
Heterogeneous Effects’, Demography, 48(3), pp. 863–887.

Bricker, D. (2021) Birthrates are declining globally – here’s why it matters, World Economic Forum.
Available at: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/06/birthrates-declining-globally-why-matters/
(Accessed: 14 March 2024).

Balbo, N., Billari, F. C., & Mills, M. (2013) ‘Fertility in Advanced Societies: A Review of Research.
European Journal of Population’, 29(1), p. 1-38.

Beck, U., & Beck-Gernsheim, E. (2019) The Normal Chaos of Love. John Wiley & Sons.

Billari, F. C., Goisis, A., Liefbroer, A. C., Settersten, R. A., Aassve, A., Hagestad, G., & Spéder, Z. (2020)
‘Social age deadlines for the childbearing of women and men’, Nature Human Behaviour, 4(2), p. 117-
124.

Cho, K.A. (2021) ‘Korea’s low birth rate issue and policy directions’, Korean Journal of Women Health
Nursing, 27(1), p. 6.

Dyson, T., & Murphy, M. (2019) ‘The Demographic Transition Revisited: Lessons for Foreign Aid and
Economic Development Policy’, Population and Development Review, 45(3), p. 415-445.

Frejka, T., & Jones, G. W. (2015) ‘Policies on Gender Equality and the Fertility Rate: An International
Comparative Study’, Population and Development Review, 41(4), p. 453-476.

Hussain, A., Schoemaker, L., & Wils, A. (2019) ‘The Future of World Religions: Population Growth
Projections’, p. 2010-2050.

ISA (2019) The Economic Impact of Falling Birth Rates: ISA, ISA - International Strategic Analysis.
Available at: https://www.isa-
world.com/news/?tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=485&cHash=8066cd77a
c69cb1e4a967f1e527fafdd (Accessed: 14 March 2024).

Kulu, H. (2014) ‘Why do fertility levels vary between urban and rural areas?’, Regional Studies, 48(9), p.
1457-1475.

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Kim, J. (2023) ‘Female education and its impact on fertility’, IZA World of Labor [Preprint]. Available
at: https://doi.org/10.15185/izawol.228.

Kim, S. (2024) South Korea’s World’s-Lowest Fertility Rate Drops to New Record, Again, TIME.
Available at: https://time.com/6835865/south-korea-fertility-rate-2023-record-low/ (Accessed: 13 March
2024).

Kubitza, C. and Gehrke, E. (2018) ‘Why does a labor-saving technology decrease fertility rates? Evidence
from the oil palm boom in Indonesia’, 22, pp. 5–36.

Lee, J. (2024) South Korea’s birth rate has become a national emergency, Financial Times. Available at:
https://www.ft.com/content/444a637b-9712-475b-8c14-9b147f4ff244 (Accessed: 13 March 2024).

Lerch, M. (2018) ‘Family Life Courses in Flux: Insights from Qualitative Interview Data on Union
Formation in Germany’, Demographic Research, 39, p. 871-902.

Lutz, W., Butz, W. P., & KC, S. (2019) ‘World Population and Human Capital in the Twenty-First
Century’, Oxford University Press.

Morgan, S. P., & Niraula, B. B. (2011) ‘Gender Inequality and Fertility in Two Nepali Villages’,
Population and Development Review, 37(3), p. 519-535.

Myrskylä, M., Kohler, H. P., & Billari, F. C. (2013) ‘Advances in development reverse fertility declines.
Nature’, 460(7256), p. 741-743.

Mull, T. (2023) How Social Media May Lead to Lower Birth Rates, Crisis Magazine. Available at:
https://crisismagazine.com/opinion/how-social-media-may-lead-to-lower-birth-rates (Accessed: 14
March 2024).

Nargund, G. (2009) ‘Declining birth rate in Developed Countries: A radical policy re-think is required’,
Facts, Views & Vision in ObGyn, 1(3), pp. 191–193.

Nitsche, N., & Grunow, D. (2016) ‘Parenthood and Life Satisfaction: Why Don't Children Make People
Happy?’, Journal of Marriage and Family, 78(4), p. 948-963.

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North, A. (2023) You can’t even pay people to have more kids, Vox. Available at:
https://www.vox.com/23971366/declining-birth-rate-fertility-babies-children (Accessed: 14 March
2024).

Sobotka, T. (2017) ‘Childlessness in Europe: Reconstructing Long-Term Trends Among Women Born in
1900-1972’, European Journal of Population, 33(6), p. 769-820.

The Guardian (2024) ‘Births in Japan hit record low as government warns crisis at “critical state”’, The
Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/28/birth-rate-japan-record-low-
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The Japan Times (2023) Japan’s business world welcomes foreign worker status expansion, The Japan
Times. Available at: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/06/14/business/japan-business-welcome-
world-skilled-worker-visa/ (Accessed: 14 March 2024).

White, M.J. et al. (2008) ‘Urbanization and Fertility: An Event-History Analysis of Coastal Ghana’,
Demography, 45(4), pp. 803–816.

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