Nowadays, delayed motherhood has become a global social crisis.

The
Office for National Statistics released provisional figures for last year
showing for fertility rate sank to 1.64 children per woman, compared with
a peak of 2.93 in 1964. This essay will discuss main causes of the decline
in fertility and then describe some possible effects of the problem.
It can be argued that low fertility is mainly driven by a number of factors.
First of all, falling fertility rate is supposed to be a consequence of greater
opportunities for women. In modern times, it is visible that women are
more likely to be offered more chances for career and education. Studies
have shown that school life expectancy for girls has jumped from 2.8 years
to 8.9 today. With the opportunities given, it can not be denied that a
majority of modern women often have the desire to persue a brilliant
career or higher education, while not all of them have the ability to
succeed in work and take good care of their children at the same time. As a
result, women nowadays are more likely to postpone giving birth and
having children later in life, leading to the declining birth rate. Secondly, it
is clear that the rising cost of nurturing can be attributable to delayed
motherhood. While in the past, nurturing children was just providing them
with food and clothes, nowadays, bringing up children includes not only
offering enough food but also education and a variety of things. As the
cost of education and property gradually increases, there are now more
people choosing to stick at a single child or even not to have children,
causing falling fertility rate.
There is no doubt that the decline in fertility rate has a number of effects.
Firstly, delayed motherhood is believed to be responsible for economic
slowdown. Nowadays, as the fertility rate is gradually falling, a wide range
of countries are now facing with the shrinking workforce. What is more,
the old people are likely to outnumber the youngsters. As a result, the
number of the tax payers will decrease, while the government still has to
spend a considerable money on healthcare and other services for the
elderly, which would result in a flagging economy. Secondly, one of the
most visible consequences of falling birth rate may be the danger to
mothers and children’s health. It is evident that women becoming mothers
after the age of 35 tend to face a greater risk of infertility, miscarriage and
health problems during pregnancy. RCOG spokeswoman Melaine Davies,
a consultant at University College Hospital in London, said that a woman
aged over 40 was between two and three times more likely to lose a baby,
for example. What is more important is that even though older mothers can
successfully give birth to a child, their son or daughter is likely to be
weaker than other children and can easily develop diseases such as cancer,
diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, etc.
In conclusion, declining fertility rate mainly results from women being
given more opportunities and the high cost of raising children. From what
has been discussed above, delayed motherhood can not only lead to
economic slowdown but also pose a risk to mothers and children’s well-
being.