Contrary to popular perception, climate change can lead to increased fertility rates in tropical countries, claims a new study published in Environment Research Letters. And it is not good news.
They’ve linked climate change to agriculture and examined the impact agriculture will have on fertility rates in poorer countries. For the purposes of their research, they studied the effects of climate change on a hypothetical economy modeled after Colombia. They found that high carbon emissions would lead to low agricultural productivity. This will lead to a rise in agricultural prices. This rise would lead to a larger chunk of labor market in the agricultural sector.
As agriculture requires lesser formal education, parents would spend less on their child’s education and will have more children instead. This phenomenon is known as the “quantity-quality trade-off”.
The researchers write, “Since agriculture makes less use of skilled labor, climate damage decreases the return to acquiring skills, inducing parents to invest less resources in the education of each child and to increase fertility.”
Finally, the researchers analysed that climate change would increase the fertility rate and decrease the education rates in the countries located in the tropics, like Colombia, and would decrease the fertility rates and increase the education rates in countries located at higher latitudes, like Switzerland.
This in turn would exacerbate inequities between the already rich and poorer nations.
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