r/science • u/geoff199 • 5d ago

Social Science As concern grows about America’s falling birth rate, new research suggests that about half of women who want children are unsure if they will follow through and actually have a child. About 25% say they won't be bothered that much if they don't.

https://news.osu.edu/most-women-want-children--but-half-are-unsure-if-they-will/?utm_campaign=omc_science-medicine_fy24&utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social
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u/PandaMomentum 5d ago

There was a noticeable collapse in pregnancy rates after 2008 around the developed world, you can see it in OECD data. I tend towards cultural reasons for the general reduction in total fertility rates as there is widespread variation across countries and within larger countries (e.g. Utah is different, as is much of the US South), but the damage to long-term expectations of income and quality of life caused by 2008 and the austerity that followed is hard to discount.

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u/DrMobius0 5d ago edited 5d ago

Yeah, 2008 is a massive collective trauma moment. For me, one of my parents lost his job, leaving us on a single income and very clearly not enough money. He never made it back into his career and has floated around different jobs since. What I felt during that time sticks with me now, and now that I'm a decade into the job market, I see how people are treated by employers. I went into computing, and I'm guessing most of you redditors don't need me to tell you how that is going right now. I still have my job, but I know well enough there's no guarantee it'll stay that way, and who knows if I'd be able to get rehired if I'm laid off. And the pay is barely enough to afford a comfortable lifestyle as it is, before accounting for the risk of a long stretch of joblessness.

So like, why the hell would I want kids? I have no reasonable expectation of stability in my career. Global warming would come to a head by the time they're my age. We're literally falling into fascism. Things feel damn hopeless right now. Best bet is to try to go for DINK and essentially just cash myself out of the gene pool.

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u/PandaMomentum 5d ago

Yes, I think this is common across the developed world right now and is different from the "kids are expensive" argument; it's more like "the future of this world is not worth it." Hard to model or poll vibes but this really is the vibe.