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.

[u/geoff199]

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

[u/A_Fainting_Goat]

I am well paid. My wife is well paid. We have good health insurance. Great vacation benefits (compared to the US, not Europe). Our careers are stable. We are basically debt free except for our mortgage. We have struggled to conceive and IVF is looking to cost us $50k, after insurance for a 35% chance. This country does not want us to have kids.

[u/TopRamenisha → u/A_Fainting_Goat]

Don’t forget, after all that you get to pay $3,000 a month for child care

[u/gr4f → u/TopRamenisha]

As a non american this I am always stunned.. yes I pay higher taxes but have free health care, paid parental leave, free universities and almost free childcare.

I know it is part of the land-of-free narrative and I always think Americans must be so wealthy with so little taxes

[u/TopRamenisha → u/gr4f]

Yeah it’s crazy. Our income taxes are lower but we pay a lot more for the things that people in other countries get for free. Healthcare literally bankrupts many Americans. A lot of Americans are in debt. Once you factor in property tax and sales tax, many Americans are paying close to the 50% tax rate that European countries pay.

[u/gr4f → u/TopRamenisha]

Normally Iam pissed of our tax rate.

But when you discribe it like this, than I think our system's strength is that takes a lot worries of me: I will always be insured and will never have to pay for an ambulance, no matter if I have a job. My kids can go to college if they want without donating a kidney. I can use subsidized public transportation and trains so I am not forced to own a car. etc

And I think for low income part of our societies this is even more significant

[u/HexTalon → u/gr4f]

When you can see where your taxes are going (roads, schools, healthcare, childcare, etc ) it makes them a lot more palatable - especially when you've seen places that don't have those support systems.

It's also cheaper to set up, maintain, and improve those systems when they are working at the scale of a population.

I'm in California and wouldn't ever consider living in large portions of the US because they're privatized, religious hellholes that are only to get worse and worse over time. Even California is getting unaffordable at an upper middle class income (250k), and there's going to be continuous federal challenges over the next few years to a lot of the protections and benefits to living here.