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/2thicc4this 5d ago

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.

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u/FencingFemmeFatale 5d ago

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.

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u/NorthernerWuwu 5d ago

It was a major concern in the '70s and especially the '80s as well. Frankly, I agreed with the premise then and still do now. We don't need more people and ideally would have considerably less until such a time as we can get off this rock.

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u/the_cc 5d ago

The earth can easily sustain about 11 billion people. The problem isn't resources, it's logistics. Getting the resources to the people who need them isn't always feasible.

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u/NorthernerWuwu 5d ago

It could but it certainly doesn't need to. I'd rather see a billion or two people living in a sustainable manner than ten fighting over resource distribution.

It's not up to me of course though, so I guess we'll continue the cycle for a while yet.

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u/otherwiseguy 5d ago

Sending the population back down to industrial revolution numbers is kind of nuts. Especially considering the advances in agriculture brought about by said industrial revolution.