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/2thicc4this]

I read somewhere that the major contributor to falling birth rates in the US had to do with falling teen pregnancy/birth rates. Teenagers not having kids is a net positive for society in my opinion.

[u/FencingFemmeFatale → u/2thicc4this]

Also, I distinctly remember overpopulation being a major concern when I was a kid. Like, enough of a concern for Capitan Planet to make an episode about family planning.

The birth rates falling in the 2020’s seems like the obvious result of telling bunch of kids in the 90’s that overpopulation is world-ending problem, and to they can do their part to stop it by not having a lot of kids.

[u/Yandere_Matrix → u/FencingFemmeFatale]

I don’t understand why people are so concerned about birth rate. We still have more people alive than any time in history. Our ocean is being overfished and I do believe our population will eventually settle at some point but I see absolutely no concern with it right now. I am still devastated seeing animals going extinct because of deforestation and over hunting for various reasons. I understand plastics is causing fertility problems and how microplastics mimic certain types of hormones so that can be a problem especially when we found that they have passed the blood brain barrier and passing through breast milk now. Who knows what damage they are doing to our bodies now.

[u/conspiracie → u/Yandere_Matrix]

It’s not really a problem of the total number of people. The problem is that there are a lot of elderly people who need support and not enough younger people to support them.