To find all these "why aren't people having children any more" arrives absurd

[CurdinHenry]

It's not really a mystery is it

The real intrigue is why people still do

It's not a logical choice, it's something else that's very hard to describe

I don't think it's people having no DC, it's people having fewer DC. As someone who doesn't have any DC I find people are still surprized when you tell them even if they only have one child.

Yes but it feels so much more intense now, and is used by even the reputable newspapers.

Using Jason Arday's face to promote their subscriptions was a particular low from The Times.

1 in 5 is 20%. That’s not a tiny minority.

Again, it’s always been used by “reputable” newspapers. That’s why they became reputable.

Did you read my post? I’m the one saying 20% is not a tiny minority…

Ok well again, I don't feel that way, I think it has gotten worse with today's internet click culture.

What they mean is why aren’t women sacrificing even more of their lives to caring and domestic work like they used to 🙄

It’s the whole idea we’re running out of people and the world will end over it. People have short memories and forget we were being doomsayed over the opposite a decade ago.

Theres never been as many people as there are now and AI is about to take loads of jobs anyway. We don’t need to force people who don’t want children into having children we also don’t need to allow infinity immigrants to make up for it either.

Birth rates have always gone up and down it’s not the end of the world

economically there are huge ramifications which we haven’t planned for

Honestly, perhaps I am missing something, but it isn't really obvious to me why people aren't having children now at all? In many ways, things are so much better than they used to be - easier for women to maintain their careers, more expectation on men to step up and share the load, more flexible working, more subsidised childcare etc.

Is it about cost of living?
Is it because of climate change?
Is it because more people have mental health problems?
Is it fear of war?
Is it because of family breakdown?
Or some other reason?

I honestly don't understand it. I mean, I totally get that not everyone is cut out to be a parent and I respect the choices of those who don't want kids, but, in a life that has been full of fantastic opportunities and experiences, being a mum is by far and away the single most rewarding thing that I've ever done. Why wouldn't most people want that?

I should also add its cyclic and many people say the reason they aren’t having as many kids as they would like is because of the cost of housing. If the population decreases so will housing costs (less demand) so the birth rate could actually go up again when and if that happens

Good. There’s far too many people on this planet

Couldn't agree more.

@Evaperofinancially it is a big story because older population costs more. Modelling didn’t expect birth rates to drop so quickly.

No, there are no countries where birth rates have increased again once they are below replacement rate.

I'm so glad I've had the opportunity to maintain a career but it's also one of the reasons I don't have more children. I think in another life in another time I'd have had 3 or 4 rather than 2 but I just can't imagine juggling that number whilst also trying to work.

I think it's when women have a choice, only those who actually want children have them

Between the world wars birth rates in many countries actually dipped and then went up again, the reason we call people born in the post ww2 period “baby boomers” is because there was a baby boom.

Not an expert on this so don’t quote me but I believe the resulting decrease in population from the bubonic plague (a far more serious situation than people just choosing to have less children) led to a greater standard of living afterwards.

Social pressure is declining. I think that’s a good thing. Many women will still have dc, just lower pressure on women who are not that keen.

Plus the population can reduce overall, not just kerp
going up.

I hope your sarcasm made you feel good about yourself, but as others have pointed out, birth rates declining is not the same as people having no kids. Families have got smaller, but most people still have some children, as both the general statistics and the smaller sample size of my friends shows.

I agree with you wholeheartedly. My children are my greatest joy. It's not all drudgery!!! Id sacrifice everything else in my life for them.

The solutions people usually tout online are higher immigration. I don’t want to derail but many people think it’s worth weathering the difficulties of dealing with a bulge in the elderly population (which will resolve itself in a few decades when they pass away) rather than permanently changing the makeup of the population. You may disagree but many people think this.

The other solution seems to be forcing people who don’t want children into having children. Not a great life for the children made from such situations

I’m glad I have dc as I wanted them but I can understand not everyone does want them. And it’s better social pressure around that is lowered.

My children are my greatest joy and it IS drudgery.

It’s not the kids it’s the accompanying, necessary work that goes into caring for them in 2026.

Cooking, cleaning, endless school runs twice a day for 15ish years (longer if you have more kids), looking after them when they’re ill, disrupted sleep, constant emails from school/nursery, endless supervision, medical appointments, homework, having to socialise with other school parents, teaching them more boring life skills, constantly having to ‘declutter’ and buy endless clothes, shoes, toys, water bottles, bags… changing their bed at least 3 times (cot to toddler bed to proper bed), catching their colds so you spend months every year either run down or looking after someone else who is run down, the relentless RELENTLESS 5/6am starts

The actual ‘spending time with them doing nice things’ is lovely. But it’s 10% of the job.

I disagree - for me the joy far exceeds 10% and all those things are very worth it. But evidently many do not.