Ageing population crisis : Why Mauritians are having fewer children

According to a recent report by consultancy firm Verde, Mauritius is facing a demographic crisis. Mauritians are having fewer children. The consultancy group provided various reasons for this decline.

Low income 

The first reason advanced is low income. According to the report, the average number of kids that people have/are planning to have varies significantly based on income level. “Low income is based on a combined income of less than Rs 25,000 per month. Middle income income is based on a combined monthly income of over Rs 25,000 but less than Rs 50,000 and high income is based on a combined monthly income of over Rs 50,000.

Starting point

The report highlights that people are now getting married later in life and are consequently having kids at a more advanced age. The ideal age for marriage and to have kids as per responses provided is depicted in the table below:

According to the report, the ideal age for women to get married is between 20 and 35 and the ideal age for men to get married is between 22 and 37. The ideal age for women to have kids is between 23 and 33 and ideal age for men to have kids is between 30 and 36. “People who want to get married earlier in life (20-25) would ideally like to wait 3-5 years before having kids whilst people who want to get married later in life (33 onwards) would ideally like to have kids straight away or to wait for one year only. 

Living standard considerations

During the survey done by Verde, respondents have been asked in what in their opinion the minimum salary required to be able to raise a child at a reasonable standard of living. It has been deduced that the minimum monthly income to raise a child at a reasonable standard of living is consistent at approximately Rs 30 000 to Rs 51 000.

The report concluded that high income earners believe it is expensive to raise a child today. “Low income earners have more children than they can afford. The reasons given include: low level of education, children are seen as a means of earning additional income for the family, inexistent family control and lack of reproductive healthcare leads to accidental pregnancies, lack of activities which could be seen an opportunity costs of having children.”

However, as compared to low income, high income earners are more conscious when it comes to raise their children. The reasons given by high income to have fewer children are: their commitment to their jobs so as to maintain theb same level of income, time factor and the age at which they decide to have kids. 

Factor influencing Mauritians to have kids

The report underlines some major factors advanced by the respondents which influence them to have more kids. The top influential for the:

• low income earners are: economic situation, education subsidies and medical subsidies
• Middle income earners are: education subsidies, economic situation and babysitting facilities. 
• High income earners are: economic situation, education subsidies and babysitting facilities. 

The report states that an education subsidy is an important incentive amongst middle and high income earners, medical subsidies ranks higher amongst low income earners as they cannot necessarily afford good health care or register for health insurance.