Latest news with #Nea
The Print
3 days ago
- General
- The Print
India's fertility rate below replacement level, financial strain a key factor, finds UN report
'The number of people sharing our planet has more than tripled since 1950, while over that same period, the average fertility rate per woman has declined from 5 in 1950 to 2.25 (UN DESA, 2024),' reads the report released Tuesday. However, this phenomenon is not unique to India as the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) report, 'State of World Population 2025', highlights that fertility rates are coming down globally. New Delhi: India's fertility rate has come down to 1.9 below replacement levels of 2.1, implying that women in the country are having less children than what is required to maintain its population size. By 2050, the global fertility rate is expected to reach the replacement level of 2.1. The report highlights that India was able to slow down its population growth organically via education and awareness. India's population stood at 436 million in 1960 with an average woman having six children. However, over the years, access to reproductive healthcare, education and women empowerment helped bring down the fertility rate in India. 'While women in India, and every other country, have more rights and choices today than their mothers or grandmothers did, they still have a long way to go before they are empowered to have the number of children they want – if any – when they want them,' the report states. India's population is estimated to have reached 146.39 crore by April and expected to grow to 170 crore before starting to dip in about 40 years, according to the report. The UNFPA report was compiled after surveying 14,000 people across 14 countries, including India that accounts for 37 percent of global population by YouGov, an international online research and analytics group It states that two-thirds (68 percent) of India's population are aged between 15-64 years which is the working age, thereby highlighting its potential demographic dividend. Whereas, people above the age of 65 years are only 7 percent. The UN report is in line with the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) 5 results stating that India's fertility rate stood at 2.0 in 2022. The NFHS highlighted that decline was more prominent in rural areas where the fertility rate stood at 2.1 (3.7 in 1992-93), while in urban areas it came down to 1.6 from 2.7 in 1992-93. Among the states that had fertility rates higher than national average were Bihar (2.98), Meghalaya (2.9), Uttar Pradesh (2.35), Jharkhand (2.26), and Manipur (2.2). Also Read: What is 'One state, One Regional Rural Bank' & why it may be a step in the right direction Financial limitations are impacting fertility decisions The report mentions that 51 percent of all Indian women aged between 15-49 years are using contraceptives, while its prevalence rate is 68 percent among married women. 41 percent of women respondents stated that two children should be ideal, while 12 percent women responded having more than two children as being ideal. The survey also highlights the difference between ideal and expectations. Nearly 7 percent of respondents below 50 years of age state that they expect fewer children than ideal. The survey asked respondents on the reasons that impact their decision to have fewer children than desired. The answer varies across health, economy, future concerns and family influences. In India, 38 percent of respondents stated financial limitations as a reason for having fewer children, while 21 percent stated job insecurity or unemployment being a factor. This is not only limited to India, as across 14 nations, 39 percent on average cited financial limitations as the reason for having fewer children. Family influence plays a key role in women's decision of bearing children. 19 percent of respondents state 'partner' wants fewer children, while 15 percent highlight the reason as partners not providing assistance in household or childcare work. The role of healthcare professionals was also found to have an impact on underachieving fertility goals. 'In India, 14 percent of respondents said pressure from doctors or health workers had led, or would lead, to them having fewer children than they wanted,' the report states. Udit Bubna is an intern who graduated from ThePrint School of Journalism. (Edited by Tony Rai) Also Read: Why flagship PM Internship Scheme is off to a stuttering start with low turnout, high attrition
Yahoo
13-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Does Opendoor's Business Model Have a Fatal Flaw? 1 Thing Investors Should Watch Before Buying the Stock
Opendoor (NASDAQ: OPEN) is looking to "reinvent life's most important transaction." To Opendoor that transaction is buying and/or selling a home, which is most certainly a very large and important event in most people's lives. The business model is interesting, but there's a potentially fatal flaw. Here's the big issue to watch if you are looking at or own Opendoor. The key to Opendoor's plan is that it makes it easy to sell a home. It gives sellers a cash offer and can do that transaction quickly. That offer, however, is going to be less than what the home could be sold for if it were fixed up and sold the traditional way. This is where Opendoor is attempting to build in its profit. Once Opendoor buys a home it does all of the normal things, the hard work if you will. It fixes up the house to make it presentable and then it sells it at a price that is more in line with the market. Operating at scale in the 50 markets the company serves gives Opendoor an edge with regard to fixing up properties and having a handle on the proper pricing. Basically, it has a good idea of what buyers want and it has the contacts and staff needed to get repairs done quickly. The company is still fine-tuning its business model, which has yet to turn sustainably profitable. For example, it is currently shifting its buying and selling approach so that it buys more properties in the "off season" (quarters four and one) and sells more in the "selling season" (quarters two and three). It's still a young company and what it is trying to do, while not unique (small local players have done this for years), it's being scaled up dramatically. So that Opendoor's income statement has red ink on it isn't really shocking right now. The income statement is important, of course, but the biggest concern that investors should probably have is the balance sheet. That's where all of the heavy lifting is taking place for Opendoor. And given the shift in the company's buying and selling approach, the balance sheet will be doing even more heavy lifting than it was before. Essentially, Opendoor is using debt to buy a house. That house is an asset that lives on its balance sheet. The money that has gone to that house can't be put into another house until the first house is sold. The longer a house sits on Opendoor's balance sheet, the worse the outcome for Opendoor because debt costs money in the form of the associated interest expenses and there is an opportunity cost every day that goes by without that house being sold. The big questions that investors need to ask are 1. What happens if Opendoor can't sell the house? And 2. What if the house has to be drastically marked down to sell it? This is not an idle issue, the company ended 2023 with 18% of its home inventory having been on the market for more than 120 days. That number dropped to 15% in the first quarter of 2024 and 14% in the second quarter. It then shot up to 23% in the third quarter and ended the year at a seemingly high 46%. Nearly half of Opendoor's inventory is "old" as it starts 2025. Some of that is likely related to the shift in the buying approach. However, the longer homes sit unsold, the worse the outcome for Opendoor and its shareholders. Interest expenses have to be paid and the company may have to forgo buying homes that would be easier to turn over. There will always be some misses in the mix, given the highly unique nature of every home. But using debt to buy what are really illiquid assets at scale could end up being the fatal flaw in Opendoor's business model. Debt can be a powerful tool, fostering growth and expansion if it is used wisely. Debt can also be a dangerous weapon that a company unwittingly hurts itself with when used unwisely. Given that Opendoor isn't yet sustainably profitable, investors should tread with caution as it takes on debt to buy homes that don't appear to be selling very well. That could change, but until it does this is a high-risk investment that only the most aggressive investors should probably be looking at. Before you buy stock in Opendoor Technologies, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Opendoor Technologies wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $496,779!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $659,306!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 787% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 152% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of April 5, 2025 Reuben Gregg Brewer has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Does Opendoor's Business Model Have a Fatal Flaw? 1 Thing Investors Should Watch Before Buying the Stock was originally published by The Motley Fool Sign in to access your portfolio
