Factors affecting birth rate

• Pro-natalist policies and Antinatalist policies from government
• Existing age-sex structure
• Availability of family planning services
• Social and religious beliefs - especially in relation to contraception and abortion
• Female literacy levels
• Economic prosperity (although in theory when the economy is doing well families can afford to have more children, in practice the higher the economic prosperity the lower the birth rate: the Demographic-economic paradox).
• Poverty levels – Children can be seen as an economic resource in developing countries as they can earn money.
• Infant Mortality Rate – A family may have more children if a country's IMR is high as it is likely some of those children will die.
• Urbanization
• Typical age of marriage
• Pension availability
• Conflict

Birth rate and the Demographic Transition Model

The demographic Transition Model describes population mortality and fertility may decline as social and economic development occurs through time. The two major factors in the Demographic Transition Model is Crude Birth Rate (CBR) and Crude Death Rate (CDR). There are 4 stages to the Demographic Model and in the first and second stage, CBR remains high because people are still in agrarian cultures and need more labour to work on farms. In addition, the chances of children dying are high because medicine is not as advance during that phrase. However, in the third stage, CBR starts to decline due to more women's participation in society and the reduced need of families to have many children. In the fourth stage, CBR is sustained at a really low level with some countries below replacement levels.