ABSTRACT
When approaching the task of planning a rational program for population, one must first ascertain what factors are subject to change. Two closely interrelated demographic factors appear as strategic in the general picture of present Swedish population dynamics presented in the preceding chapter, namely, the low marriage rate and the high illegitimacy rate. The marriage rate fell steadily for several generations. In recent years the fall has been checked, however, and turned into a surprising upward trend. The illegitimacy rate has, on the contrary, ceased rising and actually turned downward. Both these changeable factors appear to be strategic in the sense that they ought to be susceptible to induced forces of social policy.
