While much of the world worries about increasing population, this book looks the other way. It highlights the dramatic fall in fertility rates in all regions of the world. Demographers suggest that by 2050 this will lead to population decline. While environmentally this may be welcomed, there may also be negative impacts on our economies: less workers, an increasing number of elderly, and more unwanted childlessness. In this book, key experts untangle the reasons for not having children; international case studies demonstrate that there are similar but also different reasons operating in different areas and psychologists and sociologists explore the possible impact on children, parents and the elderly. Given that fertility trends are not easy to reverse, the book concludes that more needs to be done to maximize the potential of all children; particularly those who have been at the margins of society.

While many worry about population overload, this book highlights the dramatic fall in fertility rates globally exploring questions such as why are parents having fewer babies? Will this lead to population decline? What will be the impact of a world with fewer children and can social policy reverse fertility decline?

This study presents us with an insightful sociological exploration of sexual practice, within five different types of relationship and from varying perspectives of gender and age: lifelong love; serial loves; searching; devitalized relations, and parallel relations. Based on the accounts of almost two hundred adults in Finland, these real-life experiences reflect the way in which sexuality has evolved both within the lifetime of the individual, and over generations. Also examined is the impact of major historical events on love and sexual relationships - from war to economic crisis - and that of the 'spirit of the age': from the emancipatory zeal of the 1960s to the new-age holistic ideals in the 1980s.