THE FALLING BIRTH-RATE..

Hokitika Guardian, 30 January 1928, Page 4

THE FALLING BIRTH-RATE..

Tn the past six years our birth-rate has dropped by over 27 per cent. It is now the lowest in Europe, with the single exception of Sweden. Even in France, where the testamentary division of property and the custom of dowry make for small families, more babies are born in proportion to tlie population than in Britain. Every fresh report issued by the RegistrarGeneral emphasises the fact that a falling birth-rate is not a passing phenomenon. lint a permanent feature of our social life. Is it- that parents think more of themselves and are more bent on enjoyment than they used to he. Or is it that they realise more keenly the responsibilities of parenthood and shrink from having children whose future is so insecure? Taxation and the economic stringency play a part, in the problem, and so does voluntary restriction practised for the sake of greater comfort, and so docs the now care of ” women for their health and ■ their revolt against the idea thatmolierhood is the whole of life. It is not a matter that lends itself to easy dogmatisms, even though the statistics seem to show that it is those ns a rule in the best circumstances wlio have the fewest children.—The “Sunday Time” ”