Why is it still happening?

Contraception and other methods of family planning may not be culturally or religiously acceptable. It may be traditional or culturally important to have a large family.

Children are a valuable source of labour and income for a family. They can work on the land from a young age and as they get older they can earn money in other jobs.

Children can help to care for younger children and elderly family members.

High rates of infant mortality (infant deaths) mean that women need to have many children in order to ensure that some survive through to adulthood.

In the future, more children will reach child bearing age, putting more pressure on the health service.The high birth rate in LEDCs results in a high proportion of the population under 15.

Children need health care - for example, immunisations. This is expensive for a country to provide.
Young people need to be educated - providing schools and teachers are also costly. And lesson resources are difficult to access.