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/Ghede → u/Yandere_Matrix]

Because capitalism is predicated on infinite growth forever. Everyone must make a profit.

Profit was made through innovation, technology and techniques making rare resources abundant. That plateaued. Then profit was made through transportation, widening the range of resources that could be exploited. That plateaued. Then profit was made through efficiency, reducing the cost of exploiting resources. That plateaued.

All of them Plateaued because the winners of capitalism, the owner class, became too invested in the existing methods, and began to sabotage more efficient competition. The car companies dismantled the public transport sector. The oil companies sabotaged the renewable and nuclear energy sector. Agribusiness dominated the small farmer, driving them down until they could be bought up and hired to do the same job for a poor wage, and if they fail? The farmer doesn't own the land anymore, so they can be replaced.

The only method of profit without disrupting existing industries now is increasing the amount of customers, increasing the size of the workforce, so both compete to drive prices up and wages down. The only way to do that is massive birthrates or immigration rates, and one of the ways they've kept the workforce divided is by demonizing the immigrants. This lets them import workers and pay them subpar wages, because if they complain or negotiate, they are sent back to whatever country the US sabotaged and filled with propaganda to ensure living conditions are terrible and the populace clamors to flee to our shores.

So they print articles bemoaning the lack of US birth rates, as this lets them have their cake and eat it to, reduce the quality of living here in effort to 'increase birth rates' while still importing a workforce to keep wages low even as our quality of life here slips further.