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Why do poor people have more kids?

Kevin M.Kevin M.
edited June 2009 in General
Why do poor people have more kids than rich people? Common sense tells me that those who can afford to raise more offspring would be likely to have more, but statistics say that the wealthier and more educated you are, the less kids you have. Discuss

Comments

  • Agentbob
    edited November 2008
    Kevin M.;41135 said:
    Why do poor people have more kids than rich people? Common sense tells me that those who can afford to raise more offspring would be likely to have more, but statistics say that the wealthier and more educated you are, the less kids you have. Discuss
    Welfare check? I know this gets exploited a lot in the UK. I read an article once where generations of families live off of welfare checks, and there are some that's getting around 60K a year.

    Also poor people means more time to themselves. The educated ones are usually out working and doing whatever they usually do.
  • JayDub
    edited November 2008
    They can't afford condoms / the pill and think they can risk having sex sans protection.
  • Broken Lizard
    edited November 2008
    have kids hoping one of them will get rich so the kid can support them
  • buflibufli
    edited November 2008
    because if they have more kids then they don't have to work in the sweat shop they can just dump all the kids in there and live the good life... duh
    they also have kids to take care of the kids that they know their going to have in the future :p
  • Morro
    edited November 2008
    Poor people are more religious, and thus less likely to use birth control, emergency birth control, abortion and adoption.
  • xxk1nky
    edited November 2008
    Because they're uneducated and their ignorance leads to reproducing more children.
  • Student0667
    edited November 2008
    Traditionally, the idea of having more kids is so that the parents will be supported by their kids once they get old. However, with all these old age pensions, benefits, and retirement fund, having more kids to survive their senior year is no longer necessary.

    In today's society, I can not really see why people, especially poor ones, choose to have more kids. I mean, if you are rich like Mitt Romney, then it is ok. Raising a child, even one as spartan as me, is extremely costly these days.
  • Shi2
    edited November 2008
    It may depend on culture too. For instance, I know many asian parents who have 2-3 female children already, yet they still want to have another child, hoping for it to be male.
  • siuying
    edited November 2008
    well you get more labour power to exploit..
  • primexx
    edited November 2008
    stupid people are stupid

    therefore they have more children

    win!

    srsly though it's the lack of planning...and stupid.
  • JayDub
    edited November 2008
    Because they have no money so they can't do anything fun, so all they have to do to kill time is have sex.
  • Student0667
    edited November 2008
    You guys can't seriously believe that poor people have more kids is because they are stupid, this is like the notion that poor people are poor because they are lazy.

    There got to be more than just, "we are intelliectually superior thus we choose to have less kids."
  • JayDub
    edited November 2008
    Fat people are fat because they are lazy.
  • Broken Lizard
    edited November 2008
    you can work out a lot but if you eat shit food all the time you will still be fat
  • primexx
    edited November 2008
    Student0667;41216 said:
    You guys can't seriously believe that poor people have more kids is because they are stupid, this is like the notion that poor people are poor because they are lazy.

    There got to be more than just, "we are intelliectually superior thus we choose to have less kids."
    ohhh oops i misread the title :P

    although being poor leads to about the same result as being stupid, which is lack of education and by extension lack of planning, which results in more kids. I doubt many parents consciously decide "mm, let's have another kid this year so we can get another 200 bucks from the government".
  • schmoey
    edited November 2008
    I'll have to agree with AgentBob, I think a lot of it has to do with time.

    Plus, the poorer parents could think that by having more kids, when they all grow up they'll all be able to help with future income lol
  • ILTennis24
    edited November 2008
    It mostly happens in developing countries. I don't think in Canada, poor people have more kids than the middle-class or the upper class.

    But, in developing parts of the world like Africa, rural India, and Latin America, poor people can't afford condoms, or other types of birth control. Also, traditionally, a few hundred years ago the infant mortality rate is high so they had to have more children. But, now the main problem is education yet if the parents aren't educated themselves how would they know better? Plus, their elders expect them to have more children.
  • Morro
    edited November 2008
    ILTennis24;41473 said:
    It mostly happens in developing countries. I don't think in Canada, poor people have more kids than the middle-class or the upper class.

    But, in developing parts of the world like Africa, rural India, and Latin America, poor people can't afford condoms, or other types of birth control. Also, traditionally, a few hundred years ago the infant mortality rate is high so they had to have more children. But, now the main problem is education yet if the parents aren't educated themselves how would they know better? Plus, their elders expect them to have more children.
    I have no numbers to back this up, but I'm almost certain you'll find that low-income families are FAR more likely to have 6+ children than high-income families. The middle and upper class usually have 3 max, it's the lower classes who traditionally pop out about a kid a year.
  • Kevin M.Kevin M.
    edited November 2008
    It has been statistically proven that cultures that have a higher level of education have less children. It might have something to do with standard of living and moral restraint.
  • primexx
    edited November 2008
    Kevin M.;41522 said:
    It has been statistically proven that cultures that have a higher level of education have less children. It might have something to do with standard of living and moral restraint.
    higher educated people tend to have less moral restraint
  • Broken Lizard
    edited November 2008
    rich people use too much technology that destroys the sperm count
  • primexx
    edited November 2008
    Triple;41536 said:
    rich people use too much technology that destroys the sperm count
    only if you take the term "laptop" literally.
  • Lixie
    edited November 2008
    Rich people get rich by working 24/7. Rich people get rich by having the mentality of "work comes first, fuck having a family."

    Unless you get an odd pairing of an extremely hard working person with a pairing of an extremely family oriented person. Then the hard worker makes the tons of cash, while the family orient pops out babies like there is no tomorrow.

    Of course. To maintain a complete lack of bias towards gender--men can pop babies, too.
  • IVTIVT
    edited November 2008
    Lixie;41589 said:
    Rich people get rich by working 24/7. Rich people get rich by having the mentality of "work comes first, fuck having a family."
    except in Richmond, where its "mooch the Benz off mommy and daddy"
  • Student0667
    edited November 2008
    Before this discussion goes any further, I would like to request some statistics that shows poor people have more kids in North America. The problem with the debate is that there are quite a number of rich families with many kids.
  • Lixie
    edited November 2008
    Student0667;41695 said:
    Before this discussion goes any further, I would like to request some statistics that shows poor people have more kids in North America. The problem with the debate is that there are quite a number of rich families with many kids.
    Yah. Those families who are conservatives, Catholic, and are called Old Money. It would be difficult for a large family to grow riches, as their children eat it all away.
  • clsfu09
    edited June 2009
    A lot of these comments assume an egocentric nature on the part of the parents; I get an extra welfare check, more kids will mean they'll make more money for me.

    I think to have children has more to do with the nature of a family and that rich folks may be more busier at work (which may have been a potential reason they became rich), and cannot afford the attention to family whereas poor folks may have more priorities on the family.

    A lot of jobs these days needs investment outside of regular office hours and that can compromise the relationship with the family.
  • Hope_2016Hope_2016
    edited June 2009
    Because rich people want to have the taste of all the varieties of penises/vaginas.

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