Children and Elders as a Proportion of a Nation’s Population

More Children, Fewer Elders? Nations that have high birth rates also have high death rates, short life spans, and less education. A systems approach suggests that these variables are connected. For example, the publicly funded Reggio Emilia early-childhood education program, perhaps the best in the world, originated in Italy, and Italy has one of the lowest proportions of children younger than 15. By contrast, the nations of sub-Saharan Africa have almost no government aid for children or the elderly.