Infertility threatening Europe's population

Wang

Regular Member
Messages
76
Reaction score
4
Points
0
Location
Originally from Taiwan
Ethnic group
Taiwanese
Infertility threatening Europe's population

Tuesday, 21-Jun-2005

A leading UK fertility expert is warning that infertility is set to double in Europe over the next decade and could threaten Europe's population.

According to Professor Bill Ledger from Sheffield University, one in seven couples now has trouble conceiving naturally, and this figure is set to rise to one in three.

At a European fertility conference Ledger said that women should be offered career breaks so they could have children younger, when they are more fertile.

He also explained that obesity and sex infections were contributing to increasing infertility, and the sustainability of the population of Europe is at risk because there are too few children being born.

Apparently the incidence of chlamydia, a sexually transmitted infection which carries a risk of infertility, has doubled over the last decade, and to date 6% of girls under the age of 19 are classed as obese.

An obese child is almost certainly destined to become an obese adult, and many women who are overweight do not ovulate efficiently.

He warns that the rise in sexually transmitted infections in young teenagers was likely to cause blocked fallopian tubes in some.

The problem does not just lie with women, as both the quality and quantity of sperm appeared to be in decline indicating a potential rise in male infertility.

Professor Ledger says the youth of today will become tomorrow's patients in infertility clinics.

Inflexible working hours and financial and career aspirations mean many women are putting off having a family until they are in their late 30s and early 40s, he said.

But he says it is not too late to reverse the trend, with many countries, such as those in Scandinavia, introducing policies to encourage women to have children earlier.

He suggested the UK also follow the lead of France by introducing tax relief and giving greater support to women who want to take career breaks to start a family.

Professor Ledger says women are simply not as fertile after 35, and it is easier and more straightforward to do whatever you can to encourage women to have children naturally, rather than waiting until IVF may be needed.

Dr Becky Lang, from the Association for the Study of Obesity, said the issue of fertility and obesity was often overlooked, and obesity can significantly reduce fertility as well as causing complications during pregnancy.

A spokesperson for the Department of Health said the government was committed to improving the health of the nation, reducing obesity, promoting healthy living, increasing physical activity and tackling sexually transmitted infections.

http://www.news-medical.net/?id=11224


This is a bit old news but I think this will be a serious problem that Europe will have in the future unless something will be done to solve it. So I post this for those who haven't read it yet.

Edit: I see this should be in the European News & Hot Topics forum can someone move this to there thanks.
 
Yeah this problem is quite serious, in Italy for example the population is too old and there are less and less kids being born. European countries should take notice and spearhead the fight against population drops and infertility and introduce reforms that will encourage women to have more babies at a younger age, else I fear we will suffer quite a drop in population that will give us less man power and human resources.
 
I am glad this problem is becoming recognised. Of course it's not the same in all countries of the whole world, but it seems that we have so long lived with the idea 'the world is becoming over-populated' that it is difficult to notice that population is falling a lot and/or becoming heavy with older people in a lot of European countries. In England it's mainly the pensions crisis that makes us notice it. There was talk of making us work until we are 67 :( When I was growing up, women state pension age was 60! :souka: That just seems like a dream now. And of course Japan has an older population, too.
 
There is another side to this. There was an article in our local paper yesterday saying that there is an epidemic of teenage pregnancies across the city. If people should be encouraged to have children younger, what age is good? I think people should be educated about the risks to fertility, but I think people should decide for themselves when to have children. I would rather risk a drop in Europe's population than encourage people to have children before they are ready.
 
I'm talking about age 25-30 young. Of course no one wants teenage pregnancy, which is a rare thing in Europe overall. Myself, if married by the age of 25 I wouldn't mind having a baby by then. I feel parents should be young, not like some parents that I see over here with young children and white hair. A younger parent is also more able to connect with the child. So all you young couples, get to it, go make some babies, it's much more fun that it sounds ;)
 
Hmmm, it's a good point.... Personally, I think between the ages of 25 and 40 are good to have kids, depending on your personal preference - I mean, biologically speaking I guess that is the time when you are best fixed for it. I can understand a lot of people wanting to wait past 30 so they can enjoy their 20s without the responsibility of kids. But, it's a shame to leave it too late and then find there is some sort of problem.

Also, people have fewer or no kids for partly financial reason... most couples now rely on 2 incomes instead of one, also everything became more expensive - and if you have to go back to work, of course it's harder to look after many kids. I mean, 4 kids seems like a really big family now... I'm not saying everyone should have whole brood of kids! But I think career often means you put off having kids until later.

But the teenage pregnancy thing is really a problem too... :worried: If people from so-called 'disadvantaged' areas (that's the euphemism that gets used in the UK, anyway) got more chances (for education, employment, training etc.) or at least shown there could be chances and not just 'dead-end', maybe they would have ambition not to just get pregnant but do other things in life and have family at a proper time... and if they could be in productive workforce for some time during their 20s, also it could free up slightly older women and take the career pressure off so they felt freer to have kids... They could work in pairs actually, and younger girl alongside older, so rather than feeling threatened when you take maternity leave that someone come along and take your job, instead you feel supported with back-up...

:bluush: ok ok, I'll stop dreaming.... anyone coming to live in Kinsao's utopia? :sorry:
 
Eeep - i was posting while Duo was! :giggle:
I agree with him... I don't know why people seem soooo against having kids while they're in their 20s? :? Maybe for why I said - they want to enjoy freedom from responsibilities - but, I think that having kids keeps you young, too (well, uhhh, that's what my mom said, and she never grew up even yet!)
 
I know of people who have have had and raised kids in much worser times and conditions. So these seem like minor problems really. Why not bring the grandparents back into the picture. They are perfect to raise kids. They have available time frames, and as the parents work the grandparents can take care of the kids. They are experienced cuz they already had kids and this will bring the family even closer. I grew up with my grandparents in our house and I loved it.
 
Duo said:
I'm talking about age 25-30 young.

So you reckon it's too late for me Duo? Sorry, I'm just teasing you! :p

Personally, I was adamant that I didn't want kids until about a year ago, then I guess the biological clock kicked in. Now it seems like the right time.

It seems to me that a lot of the people who have kids young never make a decision to have kids, they just let it happen. This worries me. To me having kids is such a huge step I couldn't even consider it until recently. I'll never understand how people can take it lightly.
 
nah, u'r just in the right zone for havin a baby :p

I hope I don't offend anyone, I mean I know is not that easy to have kids, but my thought is if you are going to have them, better soon than late. Maybe because my family perhaps has more of a sense of continuance i am more pro havin children than other people. But for me if I do have kids I would defenetly include the grandparents i n raising them, be them from the mother or fathers side. They are a valuable source of knoweldge in this area and the wife this way can also mantain her work because today let's face it, most families do need two incomes. So, beacuse of these difficulties,
I think governments in Europe should really start to give more benefits to families with children. I would go as far as paying home makers or housewives. It has been estimated that the work they do is much harder than that of a regular day job and what not. But overall I think that the main problem today is that the basic family nucleus has excluded grandparents. If they were involved things would be way easier. Mommy woudl go to to work, granma would take care of the kid, clean the house a bit, granpoppy could go do the shopping and also take care of the kids once they are a bit older, like take them to daycare or kindergarten or watch them at the park or what not. Plus it would make them happy. Older people are a resource, and we have started to discart them and stereotype them as usless on tv. Or we show them off as weird perverted ones or like still trying to be cool and what not. Most images of old people we have are negative. We should really change this and this way we can solve 2 probs with one solution. That's like pure genious, I should be the EU commissioner on the baby-making policies and family related issues, but would probaply end up in a horrible scandal of havin babies with my cutish european secretaries and the public would want my head and i would say smth lame like "I only did for reserach" and would be in exile like Napolean in the Island of Capri where me and my youngsters would plan an evil plot for my comeback and would help me to score points with my next door neighbor mariah carey, then i would have all the capital i'd need for my revenge against the media and biased societal outlooks on bosses having babies with their secretaries.
 
Duo said:
But overall I think that the main problem today is that the basic family nucleus has excluded grandparents. If they were involved things would be way easier.

you mean that`s not regular practice for retired grandparents to help their children to raise kids or in some other family matters?
 
Duo said:
Of course no one wants teenage pregnancy, which is a rare thing in Europe overall.
Sometimes it's not always about want.
My mother had her first child by the age of 18 and she has been a good mother to all of her children...despite the father doing a runner and leaving her with cild benefit cheques that bounced.
My brother also had his first child (via proxy if you like ;) ) by 18 and he is a great dad.
Although i'm sure neither of them wanted or planned for a child, i know they wouldn't go back and change anything (not in respect to the child anyway).

I don't know about teenage pregnancy over Europe, but in the UK there is a hell of a lot of underage pregnancy...at one point every mother you saw (with a young baby) hadn't even finished school.
 
well my mother had me when she was 19 but was married at my dad who was 25. And they were in way way worse conditions, more so than any teenage parent today, so that's why i don't see the raising of a child as an impossibility that some people make it to be today.

I'm not saying that people who have kids in their teenage years will be bad parents or what not, just that it's not optimal in terms of social stability. In these cases the
gov should step in and help these young parents even more.

@ void...
I mean exactly that. It's not the case in all countries, but the trend has been growing for grandparents to stay out.
 
Duo said:
i don't see the raising of a child as an impossibility that some people make it to be today.

A lot of times it seems to me that people see having a child as quite a hardship. They have to change their lifestyle. They can have less money because the mother has to take maternity leave and work shorter hours. And of course, money has to be spent on a child, and you have to make some sacrifices in terms of time, as well. I often hear people talk in terms of having "time to themself" away from the kid(s) and saying things like "I want to do something for myself for a change". People kind of fear their identity gets subsumed into their kids and child-raising aspect of life, and that they somehow stop being "their own person". Personally I feel that this means a weak character. I think that someone who is a strong and mature character can allow their children to enrich their life without losing their own sense of identity or control over their own lives. You are an individual and have choice to do what you want. Your child is after all a seperate person from you! Yes, you have responsibilities towards them, things you have to do and concessions to make, but when all is said and done, your children are an addition to your life, they don't rule it.

People worry a lot about children and money, too. Maybe my family aren't a typical example but... I lived at home until age 21 (mid-2001), and up until that time the three of us managed on one not-particularly-high income (I'm talking under ?18,000). Yet, we still managed to have food, clothes, a holiday every year and running a car. Somehow we also managed other 'outings' when I was school aged, e.g. things at half terms, all the stuff I needed for school, books, shoes etc., home decorating, new garage... the various things that crop up during life. This was up until 4 years ago with prices as they were at that time. But, often it seems to me that people want EVERYTHING, and NOW....
 
Duo said:
But overall I think that the main problem today is that the basic family nucleus has excluded grandparents.

I agree that grandparents should be included, but they have their own life and may not have time to get too involved. If people have children young, the grandparents will still be relatively young too, and probably still working.

Kinsao said:
People worry a lot about children and money, too. Maybe my family aren't a typical example but... I lived at home until age 21 (mid-2001), and up until that time the three of us managed on one not-particularly-high income (I'm talking under ?18,000). Yet, we still managed to have food, clothes, a holiday every year and running a car. Somehow we also managed other 'outings' when I was school aged, e.g. things at half terms, all the stuff I needed for school, books, shoes etc., home decorating, new garage... the various things that crop up during life. This was up until 4 years ago with prices as they were at that time. But, often it seems to me that people want EVERYTHING, and NOW....

This is exactly like my upbringing. My Dad used to worry that we didn't have as many material goods as the other kids, but I feel that I have learnt the value of things. I am constantly amazed at how people who earn way more than me complain they can't afford stuff - it's just that they live beyond their means.
 
Tsuyoiko said:
I am constantly amazed at how people who earn way more than me complain they can't afford stuff - it's just that they live beyond their means.

You said it! :p
I thought maybe I was just old-fashioned :worried: :blush:
 
...but the trend has been growing for grandparents to stay out.

Quite for a long time it was notmal for retired grandparents to help to raise their grandchildren. If they lived in different cities then kids could be sent to grannies for summer vacation. If in the ame town - grandparents could take kids to the kindergarden, do some housework (if relations within a family are a good ones).

But with the time it changed. Partly, because of this reason:
I agree that grandparents should be included, but they have their own life and may not have time to get too involved. If people have children young, the grandparents will still be relatively young too, and probably still working.
partly, because of economical situation. Even reaching the pension age peolpe try not to leave their jobs, `cause th average ertirement benefit is just a mock over all the years they spent working. It`s just enough to survive with little pleasures affordable.

There also exist another side, the one, that Duo mentioned - we have less respect for our elders. Maybe, we think old age is never gonna hit us, and we won`t act even more crooked and wierd. Conflict of parents and childrens in a form 'you, folks are too outdated and oldfashioned to raise modern kids'. Just ignorant arrogance.

----
Also why young couples do not have kids? Money, certainly, is not the last question And this is true
A lot of times it seems to me that people see having a child as quite a hardship. They have to change their lifestyle.
want it or not your lifestyle changes, maybe not that drastically, as some try
to portray, but people most of the times very selfish. And, of course, some
just live beyond their means

Another problem - accomodation. Very often young couples live with parents. For average families we don`t have big apartments, it`s not rare 2 rooms for family of 4 (actually, for 2 families :D) Sooner or later it leads to conflicts. We have a saying that two women hardly can rule over one kitchen. So, young people first try to earn money for their own place to stay (it takes quite a time i`d say) and then think about kids

but still there are people who try increase the population :D i see many young (and not so young) moms walking with baby carriages. It`s not so bad after all :wave:
 
I think the accomodation thing is a big issue in the UK now, as house prices are getting so out of hand that people can't afford to buy a house big enough to raise a family. We bought a two-up, two-down terrace 7 years ago. It is now worth three times what we paid for it, and no way would we be able to afford it if we were starting out now. I know a lot of people have to share with friends, so it would be very difficult to think about starting a family in that situation.
 

This thread has been viewed 15925 times.

Back
Top