电子课件Chap003.pptVIP

* While the developing world faces a rapidly growing population, the industrialized world’s population is in decline and rapidly aging. Birthrates in western Europe and Japan have been decreasing since the early or mid-1960s; more women are choosing careers instead of children, and many working couples are electing to remain childless. As a result of these and other contemporary factors, population growth in many countries has dropped below the rate necessary to maintain present levels. Just to keep the population from falling, a nation needs a fertility rate of about 2.1 children per woman.