A PLS-SEM Approach to Connect Fertility, GDP, and Childhood Mortality with Female life Expectancy (FLE) in Bangladesh

A reasonable number of studies on the effect of Female life expectancy (FLE) upon the quality of women's lives in developed countries have been done. Bangladesh lacks such a study. We explore the effect of decreasing fertility and childhood mortality rates on FLE in Bangladesh and evaluate the potential impthe act of the demographic transition on GDP. Also, we investigate the trends and patterns of different factors from 1995 to 2018. Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) is functioned to fit an appropriate model to link fertility, GDP, and childhood mortality with FLE. The significance of the relationships has also been assessed. Results indicate that declines in fertility and childhood mortality have made significant improvements in FLE. The prospects of demographic transition due to fertility decline have been analyzed, and challenges to achieve it are highlighted.

A Chinese Second Demographic Transition? A Holistic Approach to Family Life Courses

Family formation in China has undergone dramatic changes. Despite increasing academic attention, few studies have taken a holistic approach to study cohort change in Chinese family life courses. In this study, we assess how family life course patterns, complexity, and diversity have changed across birth cohorts. Moreover, we evaluate whether changing norms, economic constraints, or institutional reforms are driving cohort differences. Data from the China Family Panel Studies and sequence analysis are applied to identify family life course patterns and to calculate sequence complexity and diversity. While we found a shift in family life course patterns across nearly a century of birth cohorts, there is no evidence that Chinese family lives have become more complex or diverse. To the contrary, our results demonstrate that family life courses have become less complex and are relatively standardized around marriage and a single child. We find that factors associated with economic constraints – not ideational change or institutional reforms – account for a considerable portion of cross-cohort variation in diversity and complexity. Rather than a second demographic transition, Chinese family demographic behaviour is marked by continuity despite change.

Three-Stage Transitional Theory: Egalitarian Gender Attitudes and Housework Share in 24 Countries

How does the association between gender attitudes and housework share vary across countries and time? We examine the second demographic transition as it unmasks in the association between gender attitudes and housework participation. Using data of the 2002 and 2012 International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) for 24 countries, we find that the association between gender attitudes and housework share became stronger over time in most countries, signifying that the Second Demographic Transition was in place. The results also show that the association varied across the 24 countries, reaching an equilibrium in many but at different stages. Our findings suggest that equilibria in the domestic division of labour take various forms and paces in the ISSP countries.

Demographic Transition in Sub-Saharan Africa: From Grassroots to Ivory Towers

The concept of demographic transition has been evident to European, North American and Japanese population since the early 1960’s. It loosely followed natural patterns that were postulated as far back as 1795. However, scientists and policy makers, still erroneously consider demographic transition to be absent in sub-Saharan Africa. The aim of this chapter is to uncover the hidden truth behind population censa in sub-Sahara African countries using Statistical tools. The chapter analyses philosophical basis of sub-Saharan Africa demographic dividends from 1960 to 2000. It then cautiously highlights how demographic transition is emerging in sub-Saharan Africa. Specifically, it endeavours to highlight how different African countries are in different stages of demographic transition. The chapter also contrasts some of the prevalent misconceptions about Africans, especially the delusional idea of Africans as a homogenous population group on genetic basis. Lastly, it offers solution, to the current demographic chaos, and their relationship to future matured demographic transition in sub-Saharan Africa.

Fertility and Child-Rearing

This chapter outlines the economic determinants of human fertility, and explores the demographic transition, and studies of child productivity. It offers an assessment of the costs of and returns from child production in Kala over the first 15 years of life, in terms of their costs and the contributions which they make to the family’s prosperity. Several aspects of child production are investigated, such as the opportunity cost of women’s time, children’s marriage and dowry costs, and the value of children’s labour. Risks to child-production include an understanding of survival rates for infants and children, sickness, and child-failure rates – as when a young man goes off on migration and does not return. The chapter concludes with a recognition of the limits to an economic understanding of high fertility, for example as shown by the political and religious importance of children, since children are not just economic assets but constitute “descendants”.

Urbanization and The Dynamics of Change in the Sahel

Since independence, Sahelian cities have been experiencing continuous and increasingly strong population growth, linked to migration and to an unfinished demographic transition. In contexts of rapid urbanization, facilities, infrastructure, and services (school, health, sanitation, etc.) are deficient, and a transfer of poverty from rural areas to cities takes place. Sahelian cities are also marked by the youthfulness of their populations, and an important area for research are the questions of what the city does to youth, and what youth does to the city. Knowledge of Sahelian cities remains fragmented. If the dynamics and challenges of capitals such as Dakar, Ouagadougou, or Bamako are fairly well known, those of N’Djamena, Niamey, or Nouakchott are less so. There are few studies of small and medium-sized cities, and these are in need of updating in the contemporary context of decentralization. This chapter surveys the state of knowledge of urbanization in the Sahel, and suggests directions for future research.

The epidemiological transition and its interpretations

A critical analysis of A. Omran's theory of epidemiological transition (ET) and its various interpretations. The periodization of ET proposed by Omran is questioned, and the differentiation of the two "epidemiological revolutions" by M. Terris is compared with it. The great world historical significance of ET as a trigger and an integral part of the demographic transition as a whole is noted, and disagreement with the interpretation of ET as an integral part of the “sanitary transition” is substantiated. The concept of the "cardiovascular revolution" is contested. A method of graphical representation of ET is proposed and criteria for its completion are discussed. Grounds are given for disagreement with ideas about the "first", Neolithic, and coming "third" ET, as well as about a "reverse" ET. The problems of “catching-up” ET in developing countries are considered.