The natural growth rate of a population is derived from the subtraction of the
Answers
Birth rates can be lowered by any one of a variety of practices: by late marriage and not marrying, as in Ireland; by induced abortion, as in Japan and the eastern European countries; or by contraception, as in all the western countries. An increase of five years in age of marriage in India would result in a decline of about 20 per cent in the birth rate; a decrease of 15 per cent in the proportion of people married would result in a corresponding decrease in the birth rate. But the marriage practices of a society are closely bound up with its social and cultural institutions and hence are not easily or quickly changed. Such shifts probably have to come as part of those long-term and basic changes in the very fabric of a society that accompany the transition from traditional to modern status.
Induced abortion is widely and legally practiced in some countries, and it is quite widely but illegally, and badly, practiced in many others. It is, however, unacceptable to most societies on religious or moral grounds. Indeed, the very fact of widespread abortion is itself an important argument for voluntary fertility regulation. (It is estimated that there are over six million induced abortions a year in the world, and quite possibly double that number.)