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Chapter 8

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 May 2022

R. John Aitken
R. John Aitken
Affiliation:
University of Newcastle, New South Wales
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Summary

The gathering storm – the creation of an Infertility TrapWhile previous publications have looked at individual aspects of the issues shaping our population size, the reality is that many different factors are working together to drive human fertility into a cul-de-sac of its own making. From a social perspective many young people, particularly young, educated women, do not feel that life’s purpose necessarily involves the creation of a family. As fertility rates fall, this lack of interest in procreation will be reinforced by the economic pressures placed on a dwindling workforce to achieve the productivity needed to support the swelling ranks of elderly citizens. We shall not be able to turn to immigration to solve this problem because the fall in fertility rates is global and the barriers to international movement put up by COVID will persist for some time to come. Affluent societies are also characterized by lifestyles, diets and levels of environmental pollution that negatively impact reproductive health. These features, when coupled with the lack of selection pressure on high fertility in modern industrialized societies, and the ability of ART to encourage poor fertility genotypes to remain within the population, will combine to drive fertility down to historically low levels.

Keywords

infertilitysocial determinantsageingenvironmental pollutionlifestyleevolutionAssisted reproductive Technology
Type
Chapter
Information
The Infertility Trap
Why life choices impact your fertility and why we must act now
 , pp. 270 - 304
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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References

8.4 References

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  • Chapter 8
  • R. John Aitken, University of Newcastle, New South Wales
  • Book: The Infertility Trap
  • Online publication: 05 May 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108935593.009
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  • Chapter 8
  • R. John Aitken, University of Newcastle, New South Wales
  • Book: The Infertility Trap
  • Online publication: 05 May 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108935593.009
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Chapter 8
  • R. John Aitken, University of Newcastle, New South Wales
  • Book: The Infertility Trap
  • Online publication: 05 May 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108935593.009
Available formats
×