Nowadays, family size has experienced a downward trend in developed countries. I believe that there are several causes for this phenomenon, with the main ones being better quality of medicine and limited living space in cities. This trend has dual impact on society, as it allows parents to devote more resources to one child and may lead to a label shortage in the future.
In developed countries, more adults decide to have fewer children than in the past. This phenomenon is closely intertwined with an increase in quality of medicine since it has helped to decrease dramatically child mortality rate. In the past, it was necessary to have many children, as a part of them tend to die in childhood due to poor healthcare, which is not a case in the modern world. Another reason for this tendency is that many families live in big cities where living space is limited. The majority of people live in small apartments because they cannot afford bigger ones. Thus, having a big family in this case will result in low level of live: limited space might result in lack of privacy, increase of noise and disturbances, and difficulty at studying and working at home. Consequently, it is better to have less children.
As for the influence of the phenomenon on society, smaller family size has a positive impact on a child’s upbringing, as more resources will be devoted to them. It will improve significantly a level of child’s live since they might get a chance to have a better education, facilities, and feel more confident in their parents since they do not have to compete with their siblings for attention. Another consequence of this trend is less positive because it adversely influences country’s economy. Lower birth rates might lead to a labor shortage in the future since current adults will retire and there may be no one to fill their positions. This problem will result in economic slowdown, overworked employees and declining in public services, negatively affecting people’s level of life.
To conclude, in developed countries, family size tends to decrease. From my perspective, the main causes of this phenomenon are advances in medical care and limited living space, especially in big cities. Regarding its influence on society, it might improve level of life of a child, as they might get more attention from parents, although the phenomenon might have an adverse impact on economy in the long run.