Demographic time bombs: 10 countries that are faced with low fertility rates

The country with one of the lowest birth rates in the world, Taiwan registered a record low of 1,65,249 births in 2020. Taiwan’s total fertility rate (TFR) is just 1.07 children per woman. This is a huge and marked change from the 1950s when women had around 7 children and much below the 2.1 replacement rate needed to maintain the population.

A major reason for the low fertility rate is the staggeringly high cost of living, where expenses have risen while wages have remained the same.

The Government has been incentivising citizens to have more children though. In Taiwan, citizens receive 2,500 NT per month per birth (around Rs 6,500) until the child is five years old, while in Taipei, they receive a lump sum of NT 20,000 (Rs 52,500).

Mothers are also provided stipends from the labour bureau if they are working or through the national pension scheme, if they are not.

Image credit: (Photo by An Rong Xu/Getty Images)

South Korea’s fertility rate dropped to 0.84 in 2020, lower than the previous year’s record of 0.92 a year – making it among the lowest in the world. This is also the third consecutive year where the fertility rate has stayed below 1. Overpriced education and skyrocketing housing prices, especially in the capital city of Seoul, has forced many couples to delay or abort plans of having babies.

The Government has spent more than 224 trillion won to combat the falling fertility rates since 2006, for facilities including birth subsidies for married couples and nursery fee support.

The country will also provide families two million won for each child born, starting 2022. The family will receive an incentive of 300,000 won a month until the baby is 1 year old and then 500,000 won per month in 2025.

Image credit: (Photo by Lee Sang-ho/Xinhua via Getty) (Xinhua/Lee Sang-ho via Getty Images)

The pandemic has put a hold on most Singaporean couples' plans to have babies. In 2020, the country's TFR fell to a historic low of 1.1. A survey suggested that three people out of 10 were not keen on having babies - major reasons being uncertainty over financial stability and safety concerns due to the virus.

To counter the falling rates, Singapore recently announced that it would be offering incentives to citizens willing to have babies during the pandemic. The tiny island city-state is offering a one-time USD 2,198 grant to help families bear child-raising costs, for a child born between October 1, 2020, and September 30, 2022. This would be on top of an existing $7,330 bonus that couples receive when they have a baby in Singapore.

Image credit: A man carries a child as people fly kites in an open field at Marina Barrage in Singapore on May 26, 2021. (Photo by Roslan RAHMAN / AFP) (Photo by ROSLAN RAHMAN/AFP via Getty Images)

At 1.07 births per woman, Hong Kong’s fertility rate is amongst the lowest in the world. With the pandemic, this has fallen even more. In the biggest year-on-year drop over the past five years, Hong Kong's number of births fell 18.5 per cent to 43,100 last year from the year before.

While the crude birth rate (number of births per 1,000 people) fell to 5.8 last year, the TFR dropped from 1,051 in 2019 to 869 last year. In 2020, Hong Kong also saw more deaths (49,800) than births.

Most couples have called off or are delaying plans of having children due to financial and health worries and uncertainties brought on by the pandemic. The political unrest of 2019 has put a further dent in plans.

This is despite the fact that in Hong Kong, parents are entitled to child tax allowances of up to HK$120,000, while pre-primary education is mostly free or subsidised.

From around 5 children in the 1950s to less than one child, Puerto Rico’s fertility rate has been declining steadily. The Caribbean island nation's fertility rate is just 1.23, amongst the lowest in the world.

Puerto Rico's population has dropped from 3.7 million in 2010 to 3.3 million in 2020. Natural disasters such as the 2017 Hurricane Maria, which killed thousands and had a huge economic impact, the 2019 earthquake, have led to a huge population decline and drop in fertility rates.

A large number of people have also left Puerto Rico and migrated to the United States and other countries for better economic opportunities.

Image credit: A family spends the afternoon at an improvised outdoor shelter in a baseball field in Guanica, Puerto Rico on January 11, 2020, after a powerful earthquake hit the island. (Photo by Ricardo ARDUENGO / AFP) (Photo by RICARDO ARDUENGO/AFP via Getty Images)

Despite having traditional attitudes towards families and children, the European country reached its lowest low fertility rate of 1.27 in 2002 and has maintained low levels since then.

This decline in fertility corresponds to an increase in women's higher education and work, better access to family planning means and birth control and a sharp postponement between the first and second births.

The country also has less access to childcare centres and services, which combined with a lack of adequate financial resources due to low salaries, high homeownership prices, affect most couple’s decision to have children. Romania also does not have many pro-family policies.

Image credit: Emilia, 20, is pictured inside her rented apartment next to two of her three sons in Bucharest on March 11, 2021. - Around ten percent of all newborns in Romania are delivered by adolescent mothers. At the European Union level, almost a quarter of all underage mothers are from Romania. (Photo by Daniel MIHAILESCU / AFP) (Photo by DANIEL MIHAILESCU/AFP via Getty Images)

At the beginning of the 21st century, Spain was at its lowest fertility point ever – at 1.2 children per woman in 2000. Though that has increased marginally, the rates still remain low at around 1.3 children per woman in 2020.

Since 2017, the number of deaths in Spain has also outpaced the number of births at the fastest rates since deaths started to become recorded in 1941.

The lost village of La Estrella in Spain is a classic example of this demographic time bomb – only two people have occupied the village for the last 30 years. La Estrella is part of a nearly abandoned area twice the size of Belgium.

The country with the highest elderly population is facing a looming fertility crisis. By 2030, one in every three people will be aged over 65. The pandemic has made things worse. Last year, the fertility rate for Japan was 1.4 births per woman.

As per estimates, Japan is expecting around 8,45,000 newborns this year – this is 20,000 fewer than last year and a continuation of the free-falling birth rate in the country. The pandemic, and the financial constraints it has brought with it, has made it even harder for young people to get married and have children.

To combat this, Japan pays families child benefits depending on their financial status - for families earning income below the threshold level, JPY 15,000 is paid monthly for children below the age of three, JPY 10,000 from age three to elementary school graduation (for the first two children): and JPY 15,000 (for the third and subsequent children).

Image credit: (Photo by Charly TRIBALLEAU / AFP) (Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images)

Italy’s mean age surpassed 45 for the first time to become 47.3 in 2020, making it one of the oldest populations in the world. The fertility rate for Italy is 1.3 – a decline of 0.46 per cent from last year.

Last year, a record low of 464,000 babies were born. Further, its deaths in 2020 alone were 746,146 – the highest since World War 2, and widening the ever-growing gap between death and birth rates.

The country is trying to halt this decline. A huge part of the country’s 222.1 billion Eur coronavirus recovery package will go into investing in more daycare centres and nurseries and elementary schools, thereby encouraging couples to have more children.

Image credit: Mother and baby girl sitting on street overlooking rooftops of Rome on sunset and pointing

In Greece, fertility rates fell from 2.6 births per woman in 1971 to 1.3 births per woman in 2020. Experts predict that more than 36 per cent of the country’s population would be over 65 by 2050. A major reason for this is infertility problems, which is worsening as more couples decide to postpone plans of becoming parents.

With an economy that is already in recession and increased brain drain as people move elsewhere for better opportunities, the low fertility rate is proving to be a source of worry for the Government.

In a bid to boost its population, Greece is offering parents a baby bonus of Eur 2000 for families for the birth of each child. While the first part of Eur 1000 will be paid immediately after birth, the balance will be disbursed within six months.

Image credit: ATHENS, ATTIKA, GREECE - 2021/05/18: activists protest in Athens against the new Family law about shared custody of children. (Photo by George Panagakis/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)