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this post was submitted on 27 Oct 2024
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I read that the drop in birth rates is almost 100% attributable to solving teen pregnancy.
There's also the well documented effect that more educated people just have less kids in general, and it seems to hold for every country.
I imagine the difference is a between "why" and "why not".
A generally educated couple might encounter the question of "Is there I reason why I should have kids?", decide "yes, because I'd like to", and have 1-3 kids. More poorly educated couples encounter the question "is there a reason why I should not have kids?", decide "no", and have 2-3 more.
The more women have equal rights the lower the birthrate
The more accessible contraception is the lower the birthrate
The more educated people are the lower the birthrate
The more accessible abortion is the lower the birthrate
See a pattern here between that and conservative policies? People, no matter where they are on the political spectrum, who talk about the need to increase birthrate need to realize that these things are what they're wishing to see being gone. No matter how easy you make it to have babies, people don't want enough of them if they have access to education and preventive measures, social democracies with very wide safety nets and social programs and long parental leaves don't have a birthrate any higher than the one in the USA (in fact, in some cases it's some of the lowest in the whole world!).
Part of it is just money. The trickle up economics of the last 10 yrs has squeezed the possibility out of the working class.
That seems true only if you ignore examples from countries where wealth distribution and social mobility is much better or people who have actual wealth.
People in northern Europe don't have more babies even though they have the safety nets, social programs and wealth to have them. Rich people don't have more babies even though they have the means to have them.
People just don't want enough babies to renew the population if they're given the choice and other opportunities, it's that simple.
I said part. What you say is also true. It’s a multi faceted issue.
Other arguments would be climate change and political unrest/uncertainty.
That's the thing though, there's nothing that shows that money is any part of the issue. Heck, poor people have more kids than anyone else.
Clearly it’s a multifaceted issue, but all other things being equal (same culture, same applicable social safety net, etc.), rich people do have more babies than poor countrymates: https://ifstudies.org/blog/more-babies-for-the-rich-the-relationship-between-status-and-children-is-changing
It’s a linear relationship for men, and u-shaped for women (middle-income women have fewer kids than poor women, but high-income women have more kids than middle-income women).
Thanks for telling me the same thing twice and also, that's one study and I'll do the same thing you did and share family stats a second time
https://www.statista.com/statistics/241530/birth-rate-by-family-income-in-the-us/
Rich people do have more babies than poor countrymates: https://ifstudies.org/blog/more-babies-for-the-rich-the-relationship-between-status-and-children-is-changing
It's a linear relationship for men, and u-shaped for women (middle-income women have fewer kids than poor women, but high-income women have more kids than middle-income women).
Clearly it's a multifaceted issue, but all other things being equal, more money does make people more likely to have kids.
For men but if you look at women numbers (and that's the important number at they're the ones having the kids) it paints a different picture.
Also
https://www.statista.com/statistics/241530/birth-rate-by-family-income-in-the-us/
Also: religion
The two align in that more kids both more people to work themselves to death for cheap, more uneducated voters, and more parishioners to pay tithes
And that’s the problem right there. The fewer kids with mommy and daddy issues, the fewer kids these “elders” can “take under their wing.”
Pretty sure the drop in pregnancies under 19 was 50% of the overall drop, not 100%. That's still huge, but it's not the whole story.
There’s a worldwide phenomenon of falling birth rates. I doubt it’s even mostly attributable to teen birth rates.
there are lots of reasons that vary country to country but fewer teen pregnancies is a major contributor in the US. linking to this video because the original article has a paywall.
so teen pregnancies are a major factor, but the 20-29 age groups are falling a ton as well.
this video covers falling birthrates globally. the specific timestamp has a handy graph of birthrates per age group. linking the video because the original article has a paywall.
so basically teen pregnancies are a major factor, but the 20-29 age groups are falling a ton as well.
That’s a problem because not only does it lower the “domestic supply of infants”, it also lowers the number of desperately poor kids who enlist in the military right out of high school to escape poverty and get that “free” education.
The cycle of poor is also one of not golden handcuffs, but nickel ones that turn your skin green. It’s a complacent work force. People who don’t engage political activism, join unions (thinking they can’t afford the monthly fees), and keep their heads down for the sake of feeding their kids.
And most working class people doing better than poverty, with kids, turn their main focus on them, on their households. Again with the complacency and keeping your head down, because you have more to lose.