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Abstract

Fertility changes both in high income and low-income countries have had differing effects on the developing and developed world and have highlighted the issues of gender roles and within that the issue of female autonomy. Government policy, culture and health crises have disrupted women’s reproductive autonomy which allows women to freely decide whether they want to have children or not. There have also been barriers to receiving fertility treatment and sexual health support due to the pressure on health systems because of the pandemic.
Both Ethiopia and South Korea have been ideal case study countries due to their contrasting history. South Korea which historically had a higher fertility rate but at the time of writing has the lowest in the world. Ethiopia has one of the highest despite recent improvements in education, reduction in maternal mortality and contraceptive awareness which has led to a slight reduction to the fertility rate. On the issues of fertility both have shown the importance of epidemics and pandemics as an additional pressure on fertility as well as providing insight into the wider conversation around fertility for high income and low-income countries.
In conclusion from the research conducted due to the additional pressure on existing frameworks Covid-19 is an additional factor that has given more reasoning to increase fertility in some cases and exacerbate a decrease in others.
This research can be shown to improve conversations around fertility so that the focus is not solely on mortality but on women’s reproductive autonomy highlighting the impact on populations epidemics and pandemics can have in high income and low-income countries.

Course: International Development Studies (DL) - MSC - P2517PTD

Date Deposited: 2024-02-07

URI/permalink: https://library.port.ac.uk/dissert/dis14375.html