Good Health and Well-Being
Age structure transition of China’s population: Regional differentials and implications for development policy
Increasing attention is being paid to the rapid change of population age structures in developing countries, even though population growth has long been considered as the main issue in those countries. As a result of the consistent decline in fertility over the last two to three decades, the working age population currently claims a large proportion of the total age structure. Soon, however, rapid growth of the elderly population will be one of the most conspicuous characteristics of population change in the developing countries. It is estimated that currently the total world population increases 1.7 per cent annually, whereas the portions of the population aged 55+ years and 65+ years increase 2.2 per cent and 2.8 per cent, respectively. Eighty per cent of the increase in the 55-t population occurs in the developing countries. In the next three decades, the population aged 65 and over in the developing countries will be twice as great as in the developed countries (Kinsella, 1988).
Breast-feeding and return to fertility: Clinical evidence from Pakistan, Philippines and Thailand
Breast-feeding is known to prevent women from becoming pregnant under certain circumstances. In recent years, reproductive physiologists have been studying the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis to learn more precisely how lactation postpones the return of “fertility,” or fecundity. Family planning researchers are interested in knowing not only how breast-feeding inhibits ovulation, but how the return of fertility can be predicted during breast-feeding so that its natural contraceptive benefit can be relied upon with confidence.
The onset of a fertility decline in Nepal?
The Nepal Fertility and Family Planning Survey (NFFS) 1986 is the most recent nationally representative demographic sample survey of Nepal. It collected information on all births and pregnancies; demographic and socio-economic background characteristics of respondents and their spouses; knowledge, availability, accessibility and use of contraceptives; and fertility motivation and breast-feeding. The NFFS was conducted for assessing the current status of the family planning programme and to monitor changes since the 1976 Nepal Fertility Survey (NFS) and the 1981 Nepal Contraceptive Prevalence Survey (NCPS).
Rural labour force transition and patterns of urbanization in China
Urbanization is characterized by the movement of people from rural areas to urban areas (Kupper and Kupper, 1985, p. 874). The term urbanization refers to such a redistribution of population as a demographic phenomenon, and the changing morphological structure of urban agglomerations and their development as social phenomena. The migration of populations links the rural areas with urban areas and is affected by “push” forces from rural areas and “pull” forces from urban areas. Different degrees of these forces determine the different pace, patterns and processes of migration and urbanization and the transition of populations.
Recent levels and trends of fertility and mortality in Myanmar
In Myanmar, the vital registration system was first introduced into some parts of Lower Myanmar in the late nineteenth century and gradually expanded to other parts of the country. It was introduced into the towns of Upper Myamnar in 1906 and the villages of Upper Myanmar in 1907 (Kyin, 1959, p. 6). By 1931, about 82.5 per cent of the population was covered by the registration system (United Nations, 1959, p. 47). In those days, vital statistics were collected by municipal health offices in urban areas and by village headmen in the rural areas. The reports were published by the Department of Public Health (Sundrum, 1957, p. 7).
The ethnic factor in the timing of family formation in Nepal
The notion that the “starting”, “spacing” and “stopping” patterns of reproductive behaviour take place within a particular institutional and cultural environment and respond to changes in that environment is a basic sociological orientation to socio-demographic analysis (cf. Davis and Blake, 1956; Freedman, 1961-1962 and 1975; Hawthorn, 1970; McNicoll, 1980; Lesthaeghe, 1980).
Foreword
Strength of fertility motivation: Its effects on contraceptive use in rural Sri Lanka
Although questions on family size desires have been included routinely in fertility surveys for several decades, questions that attempt to assess the strength of those desires have been much less common. For example, neither the World Fertility Surveys nor the Contraceptive Prevalence Surveys included such questions. The on-going round of Demographic and Health Surveys include questions on strength of fertility motivation, but analyses of the effect of strength of motivation on contraceptive use have not yet been reported.
The KAP-Gap in Nepal: Reasons for non-use of contraception among couples with an unmet need for family planning
Fertility and family planning surveys conducted in developing countries around the world have consistently reported an inverse relationship between fertility preferences and the practice of contraception. These surveys have also shown, however, that substantial proportions of women stating that they do not want any more children are not practising contraception. These proportions generally range from 25 to 50 per cent, and reach even higher levels in Africa. This discrepancy between women’s stated preference to have no more children and their non-use of contraception is euphemistically referred to as the “KAP-Gap”.
Conference considers ageing
Population Ageing and its Economic and Social Implications was one of the agenda items considered at the Fourth Asian and Pacific Population Conference, which was held in Bali, Indonesia, from 19 to 27 August 1992.
Is institutionalization the answer for the elderly? The case of Singapore
Ageing of the population is a demographic phenomenon normally associated with developed countries. This particular trend is currently of concern to Singapore. In 1957, 43 per cent of the population was below 15 years of age, and the elderly aged 60 and over never exceeded 4 per cent of the total population. The median age of the population was at that time 18.8 years (Chen and Cheung, 1988). In 1989, persons aged 60 years and older comprised 8.6 per cent of the total population. In absolute numbers, this constituted 229,700 people (Department of Statistics, 1989). By 1987, the median age had matured to 28.4 years (Chen and Cheung, 1988). It has been projected that one in every four persons will be 60 years or older by the year 2030 (Ministry of Home Affairs, 1989). Data compiled from the U.S. Bureau of Census projected that, in Singapore, the increase in the number of elderly between 1985 and 2025 will be approximately 348 per cent, the second highest of 31 countries surveyed (Straits Times, 7 November 1988).
Breast-feeding patterns and correlates in Shaanxi, China
Breast-feeding is almost universal and lengthy in China, especially in less developed areas (SSB, 1986; Tu, 1989a). Breast-feeding serves as an effective means of birth spacing in traditional Chinese society where the reproductive potential is enormous owing to early and universal marriage. It also provides protection against malnutrition and infectious diseases that is very important for child survival, especially in rural areas where access to modern medical facilities is quite limited and infant formulas are not available (Tu, 1989a).
Effect of famine on child survival in Matlab, Bangladesh
Famine is defined as widespread food shortage leading to a significant rise in regional mortality (Blix, 1971). Historically, major causes of famine have been natural calamities. However, in modern times, when a natural disaster causes insufficient production of food, political and social factors play an important role in determining whether famine becomes widespread and who is affected (Alamgir, 1980; Langsten, 1985; Sen, 1980).
Initiation and duration of breast-feeding in Indonesia
Breast-feeding plays an important and influential role in child survival and fertility, offering immunological protection to an infant against early morbidity and mortality, and contraceptive protection to a mother against closely spaced pregnancies. In developing countries, breast-fed infants experience substantially lower morbidity and mortality risks than infants who are not breast-fed, particularly in the first year of life (Retherford et al., 1989; Pebley and Stupp, 1986; Palloni and Millman, 1986; Grant, 1984; Knodel and Kintner, 1977; Wray, 1977). A survey of 33 comparative studies of breast- and bottle-feeding in different parts of the world has concluded that the risk of death in infancy is three times higher for “mixed-fed” babies (both breast- and bottle-fed) and five times higher for babies who are exclusively bottle-fed (Grant, 1984) relative to exclusively breast-fed babies.
Further evidence of the onset of fertility decline in Nepal
Until recently, it was believed that fertility in Nepal has persisted at a very high level with a total fertility rate (TFR) of around six children per woman. In a recent article, Tuladhar (1989, pp. 15-30), using the birth history data from the 1986 Fertility and Family Planning Survey, obtained a TFR of 5.61 children per woman for the period 1980-1985. This rate was obtained without any adjustment to the raw data. He cautiously concluded that Nepal may be on the verge of the onset of fertility decline. Except for this publication, the author knows of no other studies so far which address the issue of fertility decline in Nepal. Therefore, the aim of this note is to use village-level data to contribute to the on-going debate about the onset of fertility decline in Nepal in general and the study population in particular.
Towards a comprehensive population strategy for Nepal
Nepal is entering the 1990s with a new political system. A democratically elected Government will be in office within a year’s time and one of its first tasks will be to define a fresh development strategy for the country to deal with old problems. Prominent among these are challenging population problems: a high population growth rate, heavy migration of people moving form over-exploited terraces in the mountains and hills towards an almost saturated agricultural frontier in the terai (lowlands near the border with India), scattered population settlements in most of the rural areas which make it difficult and costly to provide them with basic infrastructure and services, and an explosive growth of most of the still incipient urban centres in the country.
Fertility trends in rural China in the 1980s: Cohort effect versus period effect
While the dramatic decline in fertility in China in the 1970s has been acknowledged worldwide and is very well documented in the demographic literature both at home and abroad (China Population Information Center, 1984; Coale, 1984, among others), China’s fertility and related population trends in the 1980s have evoked much concern and discussion in recent years (Hardee-Cleveland and Banister, 1988; Zeng, 1989; Kaufman et al., 1989; Greenhalgh, 1989, 1990; Tien, 1990a; Aird, 1990; Poston, 1991, among others).
China: A unique urbanization model
In recent decades, many third world countries have been experiencing rapid rates of urbanization resulting in an explosion in the siae of their urban population. China, however, has been a striking exception to the general patterns. The Government of China has intervened in order to keep the process of urbanization under control. Since the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949, the Government has taken measures to control gradually the rapid growth of population and to regulate by various means the increase of the urban population and the level of urbanization. The low level of urbanization in China has thus been well recognized in recent studies of the demographic, geographic, social and economic development of this country (Chen, 1973; Thompson, 1975; Chang, 1976; Chiu, 1980; Yeh and Xu, 1984; Chen, 1988).
Micro-consequences of low fertility in Singapore
The fertility decline of Singapore is often cited as a success story of a developing country’s effort to balance population growth with economic development. Since achieving nationhood in 1965, Singapore’s fertility has fallen by almost 70 per cent in about 20 years: the total fertility rate (TFR) dropped from 4.66 in 1965 to a historic low of 1.44 in 1986, after breaking through the replacement level in 1975. The size of successive birth cohorts also fell by about one-third, even though the number of married women of reproductive ages increased by more than 70 per cent. After 15 years of below-replacement fertility, Singapore can be characterized truly as a lowfertility society.
Implications of changing family structures on old-age support in the ESCAP region
Families alone do not have the capacity to provide the care and support for the increasing number of elderly persons.