Fertility Decline

Millennials,

 In 1969, back when most of our parents were young, there was a man named Bob Erlick who published a book called “Population Bomb.” This book talked about how there are too many people on the earth. At the time, this was written there was only 3.61 billion people on the earth. To solve this problem of over populating he suggested to not have children. With this idea of there’re being to many people inhabiting the earth, the fertility rate has since declined.

(from surveys is was discovered that fertility rate has increased because it was expensive to have children)Fertility decline has happened because those surveyed said that it is expensive, with less children more opportunities appear for the one existing child, and because they grew up in small families  it makes it traditional for them. Some of the existing issues that come along with the fertility decline include: young adults are becoming more independent leading them to have children later in life, when you have children later in life you don’t get to experience things the same way that you would have starting our earlier, there are many false prophets on the earth today trying to persuade young people not to have children.

            In today’s world, there are 7.2 billion people on the earth. If we were to give each person exactly one acre of land everyone could fit into the state of Texas. Population is based on how many people total live on the earth. Birthrate is based on everyone thousand births. Fertility rate is based on the number of children you have in a lifetime divided by the number of woman who can still have babies. With these in mind, people in today’s world are starting to live longer due to an increase in medicine, technology, and jobs.  I believe that it is our job as young adults to change this fertility decline.

In The Family Proclamation to the World we are told that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of his children. If we are not having children this could affect the human capital. Human capital is how each individual contributes. With how much fertility has decreased we can only picture how this will affect our own personal lives.  Since I am a Mormon it is common to get married at a young age, however, most of my friends are non-members. I have seen the age different in my own parents compared to theirs. My parents (both age 45) are often involved with my life and can do many athletic activities with me. Compared to my friend’s parents who are in their late fifties to sixties are often left watching instead of participating. I know that when my parents begin to become older that I will be able to start providing for them and still be financially stable. With the age gap of my friends to their parents I feel that they would need more time to be able to provide for their elder parents.

            There are many false prophets in the world today as well trying to persuade the young minds of us millennials. In Deuteronomy 18:20 we read “But the prophet, which shall ^presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die.”  This means that those who are trying to give the message of having children later in life or not to have any a positive view are wrong. Once women reach the age of thirty producing children becomes increasingly difficult, so with that being said why wait? With having the blessing of creating families we must also remember that we get to take part in making that body for the child, but heavenly father has already made the spirit. I would like to close my blog with one last quote by Thomas S. Monson “Children then and children now bless our lives, kindle our love, and prompt our good deeds.” I hope that this blog has opened your eyes on why fertility has declined, and why it needs to be changed.

Blogger,

Laken Nordin