UK fertility rate drops by 18.8% in 12 years

[MidnightPatrol]

The UK has the fastest falling fertility rate in the G7.

2022 saw the lowest number of births for 20 years.

The current TFR is 1.49 births per woman.

What do you think the reason for this is, and what could be done to reverse the trend?

news.sky.com/story/amp/britains-fertility-rate-falling-faster-than-any-other-g7-country-with-austerity-thought-to-be-a-principal-factor-13232314

Also, any person pre 40s who is savvy is leaving the uk. Future is not bright guys.

I think what will happen is people will have to get used to paying for things they did not previously. Such as your comment about dentists - there is load of availability….for private dentists!

Because for the first time ever, it’s becoming socially acceptable not to.

I don’t think it needs reversed. Planet is a mess, we have over evolved, and current society isn’t somewhere I’d want to navigate whilst having the responsibility of influencing a young mind.

Not to mention the fact I just don’t want to risk my health and my body for the sake of another life.

I did that and came back in my 40s. Falling birth rates are a global issue.

This is naive. There's no sunset to walk off into.

Not sure it is in many places.

I know they are. Economic issues everywhere we look, but there really is no future here, not even shelter. I’d go as far as to say no future in much of the west.

We have neglected the young (millennial and under) too long, and they have had enough 🤷‍♀️

I never said there was a sunset, but a certain hopelessness pervades in this specific dead empire.

As I said, a person can work until they drop and still not afford shelter here. This is not comparable to many places in Europe.

Even in countries not classed as 'developed', birth rates are in decline. India and China for example. The Chinese really didn't need the 'one child policy', as birth rates would soon have declined without it. Now they are encouraging women to have more children!

Africa is the only exception, but within a decade or two, the same thing will also happen there. Female education and work opportunities are a huge factor. When women have the chance to complete their education and work outside the home, they will start having children later, or perhaps not at all. Unfortunately this isn't the case yet in much of Africa, hence birth rates as high as 7 per woman in some countries.

The sheer number of people wanting to come to “the west” suggests there is very much a future here for those who want it.

Europe is the west.

@Jhound. I agree that people will have to get used to paying for things, but surely there’ll also be a scarcity value as the population ages? Someone who is 30 now will have fewer younger people to provide any type of service to them when they’re 80 (regardless of their ability to pay).

@Vettrianofan NI?

Hopefully by then we will have euthanasia.

Sorry to sound flippant but I know a few people whonhave watched elderly parents decline over years with incurable illnesses and its been very traumatic.amd drawn-out. It's not something I'd want to go through.

I read a great book about this recently, called Count Down, by Shanna Swan which explains the science and shows that both male and female fertility has rapidly declined over past few decades (due to pollution), and we are physically less able to conceive than our grandparents were at our age.

If it continues, she and others think there’ll be a fertility crisis. The Guardian did an article on this: https://amp.theguardian.com/society/2021/mar/28/shanna-swan-fertility-reproduction-count-down

The amount of weed smoked by young men won't help.

We’re aware already! I don’t know any millennial or gen z who is expecting to get a state pension or indeed any help whatsoever at the state pension age of 75 (as it’ll be then). We’re expecting to die at work!

Yep. And it'll come quick because the NHS is already hopeless. Know so many people with cancer that has gone incurable while waiting for NHS treatment.

Good luck finding an employer when between the ages of 60 and 75.
That said, if there is such a shortage of workers, maybe there will be opportunities? I suspect not though.

@HellsBalls I think employment opportunities will have to change tbh as subsequent generations shrink. Gen Z is already smaller than the Millennials and the current generation, Alpha, looks to be smaller still. So working longer will become the norm as we can’t rely on the next generation to take over.

Capitalism has collapsed (pretty much since 2008 crash) and the west is in a real funk and denial.

The other side of the planet is in constant warfare (middle east/Russia).

How is that different from the world wars, the cold war, any other war during history? The only difference I see is better choices for women and more access to contraception.

For me it's because of fertility issues (basically had unprotected sex with dh for 9 years since age 22) but on another level, I am also stressed from work and own a fairly small 2 bed flat so there are times when I think being childfree may not be that terrible.

Capitalism has collapsed (pretty much since 2008 crash)

we never recovered from 08, low interest rates just masked it.

This is very true. They just kept printing money to shore things up, and not the chickens are well and truly roosting.