Try to identify reasons that the population growth rate, both in the U.S. and worldwide, has declined in the last century rather than remaining constant

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

There are many reasons cited in the literature. We hope that some of them will be
identified by students. When families gain more than subsistence, they tend to start to
believe in a better future, and recognize that spreading the family possessions among more
people is likely to return the family to poverty. If (the big if) medical care is available to
provide reasonable assurance that children born have a high probability of living, this
pressure will result in a declining desire to have many children. Female education seems to
be a potent cause of declining growth; females kept ignorant are in thrall to their husbands,
while educated females demand some say in family decisions (including decisions about the
number and spacing of children). Availability of legal abortion has exerted downward
pressure on births in many countries. In some countries, government policy favors smaller
families, up to and including coercion (forced sterilization, forced abortion). In some
countries, health problems (AIDS, for example) kills of many people of childbearing age,
reducing the birthrate and orphaning many children, some of whom subsequently succumb
to the disadvantages of the parentless in a cruel, exploitative world. There are obviously
more possible reasons.