 With fewer younger dependents, due to declining fertility and child mortality rates, and fewer older dependents, due to the older generations having shorter life expectancies, and the largest segment of the population of productive working age, the dependency ratio declines dramatically leading to the demographic dividend.Combined with effective public policies this time period of the demographic dividend can help facilitate more rapid economic growth and puts less strain on families.This is also a time period when many women enter the labor force for the first time.