General Articles
Marry, don't tarry
Late marriages and never marrieds result in lower fertility rates
Following the 2001 census report for the community, Parsiana requested Delhi-based demographer Ava Khullar to analyze the census findings.
The first installment, pertaining to the census findings, was carried in the January 2005 issue of Parsiana. This second installment gives a background to the demographic decline and the final section will deal with interfaith marriages, community attitudes and examples from other communities that have dealt constructively with the issue of demography.
If for a population to maintain a steady level requires 3.1 children per family to counter the loss by deaths (this assumes that all females get married), what would be the situation where around 30 percent of men and women do not get married at all? The burden of maintaining a stable growth would fall on those who do get married by having many more children to compensate for the loss. The requirement would go up to possibly five or six or more children per married couple which would be a utopian dream indeed!
The first installment, pertaining to the census findings, was carried in the January 2005 issue of Parsiana. This second installment gives a background to the demographic decline and the final section will deal with interfaith marriages, community attitudes and examples from other communities that have dealt constructively with the issue of demography.
If for a population to maintain a steady level requires 3.1 children per family to counter the loss by deaths (this assumes that all females get married), what would be the situation where around 30 percent of men and women do not get married at all? The burden of maintaining a stable growth would fall on those who do get married by having many more children to compensate for the loss. The requirement would go up to possibly five or six or more children per married couple which would be a utopian dream indeed!
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