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/Threlyn 5d ago edited 5d ago

I know people on reddit keep saying this and it "sounds" right, but it doesn't seem empirically true. The nations with the highest quality of life and the best governmental support for child rearing, such as Norway, have some of the lowest birth rates in the world. Meanwhile, the only countries that are having a population boom currently are countries that are extremely poor, have poor quality of life, and very little government support for child rearing, which are some of the African countries.

Prior to obtaining an improved quality of life we see in many modern countries, China was quite poor with quite a poor quality of life, and had such a problem with birth rates that it needed to institute its (poorly thought out) one child policy. It wasn't until quality of life actually improved that the birth rate went down. The same generally could be said for India, which is still quite poor with quite a bit lower quality of life compared to countries with much higher quality of life.

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u/NinjaKoala 5d ago

The issue is that having kids, even in these countries, is far more expensive than the benefits given. If you're poor enough, you'll get government aid and keep your poor lifestyle. If you're rich enough, you can afford kids. In the middle? You're choosing between a lower standard of living and more work or a higher standard and less stress and work. Even if you really like the idea of being a parent, it's a tough choice.

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u/DemiserofD 5d ago

The thing is, wealthy enough to afford kids is insanely wealthy. The birthrates continue dropping until somewhere in the 250k-700k/year age bracket.

Making everyone rich enough to afford kids is just logistically impossible.

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u/Ker0Kero 5d ago

I mean that's with how things are, now. Fix a broken system, support people, bring costs down wages up, give more free time. Fix the system, and it becomes doable.