Equitist
Gold Member
Offline
Australian Politics
Posts: 9632
NSW
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Dunno about your family, Android, but most Aussie (and Western) families could probably look back at their own familial birth records and note a similar pattern of dramatically-reducing birth rates amongst their own extended families...
In my generation, there were an average of 4 children per family (I'm speaking siblings and cousins - one of my cousins died in infancy of meningitis) - and none of my uncles nor aunties is childless.
In my parent's generation the average number of births per couple was closer to 6 (one of my would-be-uncles died in infancy, also of meningitis). None of their siblings nor cousins was childless.
In my grandparents' generation there were as many as 8 births per family (several dying in childbirth and infancy from different causes). Again, none of those who survived into adulthood were childless.
Now, to consider the breeding patterns of my own generation, the average number of children to me, my large number of siblings,first cousins and in-laws has been 2 - most having a neat 2 but some having none, others having 1 (so far), one 3 and only one having 4.
Curiously, those who have had more than 2 children, were those who had one or both spouses grew up in households with a stronger religious upbringing.
The reason that I suggest this overall pattern applies across the nation (and Western World), is that the birth rate statistics basically follow that trend...
There have been estimations that a full 1/3 of my children's generation will never breed at all and probably another 2/3 of the remaining couples will have only 1 or 2 children - which will probably create an even-smaller generation of even-more egocentric, selfish, materialistic and unsociable people than the current GenY...
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