Larger Families - Greater Poverty

The chart below shows the total fertility rate (basically, the average number of children per family) and Gross Domestic Product (a measurement of the goods and services made within a country) each year. It is important to notice that, of the several dozen countries with an average of more than three children, all but five of them have an average income of less than $10,000 per year and most are below $5,000 per year!  That’s poor!

Total Fertility Rate and Gross Domestic Product Per Person

Of the countries having two or fewer children, far above half of them have incomes over $10,000 a year. Some people believe that poverty leads to high birth rates while others believe that high birth rates lead to poverty. The best available research points to complicated feedback loops with each impacting the other.

According to UNICEF, more than 25,000 children under the age of five die each day due to poverty. And they “die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death”.

As we’ll see in later sections, average consumption in wealthier countries is depleting more of the Earth’s resources than in low-income countries. Therefore, it is crucial that higher-income people reduce both their consumption and birth rates to stop the resource depletion and overshoot – to balance their population with their available resources.

The world’s poorest need opportunities to rise above poverty and have a comfortable quality of life. Therefore, it is crucial that they reduce their birth rates – to balance their population with their available resources.

The primary purpose of population balance is to reduce misery and suffering in the world.