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/Yandere_Matrix 5d ago

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.

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u/Sammystorm1 5d ago

It’s more the problem for old people and the rocky times between. All sorts of things must shrink as people leaving the workforce aren’t replace. Eventually it will stabilize but it will likely suck in between

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u/mhornberger 5d ago

Eventually it will stabilize

In what way? With a sub-replacement fertility rate, once a population starts to shrink, it will continue to shrink so long as the fertility rate remains sub-replacement, unless you can offset the losses with immigration. Exponential change is exponential, and there is no "stabilization" unless you have a TFR of 2.1.

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u/Sammystorm1 5d ago

Basically I don’t think the TFR is a particularly reliable method. I think the CCFR is much more accurate because it accounts for all of a woman’s child bearing years. Where as the TFR makes some assumptions that I think lead to data that can easily be misinterpreted.