I would like to remind you that this is located within the Skunkworks section of the ATS Network so this is simply my conspiracy, I'm not a
professional.
The purpose people would have many children prior to 1950 was the need for extra help around the home which for girls meant cooking, cleaning and
sewing while for the boys this meant working, fixing things and farming. The parents would need extra assistance around the home to so they would have
as many children as necessary so that they would not need to hire extra help. Many of the children born during the entire human history prior to 1950
died which also meant parents would need more children as the chances of one or more dying was severely high.
Other than work there were many other reasons for so many children such as there was no entertainment such as television, computer, video games,
etc... So when a couple were bored they would have sexual intercourse to entertain themselves. This is still seen today as 9 months after major
snowstorms there are large amounts of babies being born.
A third reason was that there were no birth control medication or contraceptives, so every time people would have intercourse the chances of baring a
child was very high. Add these three together it leads to a very high rate of child birth and thus population growth.
When the invention of the modern welfare state occurred the need for so many children to keep a family afloat was no longer necessary as the state
would step in. The majority of children born were to poor families and these were the very same families that the state would now help. Shortly after
the welfare state was created to supplement the need for children the invention of the birth control and contraceptives became available to the public
with special programs aimed at poor mothers.
This was said to lower the poverty rate among these young women. At the same time the laws regarding schooling and child labor became more strict
leading to children not being permitted to contribute much to the family income which led to many families leaving for urban/suburban areas to find
work where children would have good education and the parents would work in the services sector where assistance from children were not necessary.
This same theory very strongly applies to the more Socialized nations of the world which was a leading cause for the sharp drop in population of the
Soviet Bloc and other Communist nations. Now the nations of Eastern Europe have a population growth rate in the negatives as they see the need for
children to be unnecessary. But this is the same reason why population growth is very high in the more undeveloped nations, they need the children to
help them and they don't have easy access to contraceptives/birth control and there are very lax or unenforced laws regarding child labor and
regulation.
This leads to two important questions.
1. Is this a good thing or a bad thing?
2. Was this a side effect of a civilized society or was this planned to control the population?
I am providing some links so you can see the current population trends.
Birth Rate
Growth Rate