Unless they roll-back women's rights and improvements in child mortality, societies will need to radically overhaul their entire relationship to supporting parenthood in order to reverse this trend. The economic costs of having children at a replacement rate are simply too high.

We need universal childcare services, provided by the state and available to all, and other childcare-enabling reforms like automatic right to work from home and other flexible working arrangements for those with children.

These won't be popular with everyone, but you'll won't solve the demographic crisis without them.

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9cb14c1ec0 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> We need universal childcare services

Birth rates have been falling worldwide, regardless of the level of government support. It's much more a matter of attitudes about having children.

> The economic costs of having children at a replacement rate are simply too high

Nope. My wife and I have 4 children, on a lower-middle-class income in the US. Your lifestyle choices matter a lot. If you want to have children, you can find a way to afford them.

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aidenn0 34 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

The worse the primary-caregiver's job prospects are, the cheaper the opportunity costs are to have kids. My wife quickly realized she didn't want to be an English teacher, and couldn't do a whole lot of other things with that degree, so her staying home to raise our 4 kids was very affordable for us. If she had been a software developer, the opportunity costs would have been higher.

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win311fwg 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> It's much more a matter of attitudes about having children.

That is the story right there. We as a society spent decades upon decades demonizing having children at a young-ish age. "Your career is more important", they said. We got shows like "16 and Pregnant" to dissuade viewers from having children. People have become genuinely afraid of having kids.

Not until you are in your 30s does the social messaging shift from "only failures have children" to "why haven't you had a child yet?" That change in social pressure often compels one to start to change their mind, but at that point one becomes biologically limited in how many children they can reasonably birth.

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jacobgkau 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Sounds more like it's a matter of attitudes about personal economics than attitudes about having children. If you want to wallow in poverty (and don't mind if your children do as well), then of course you can "find a way."

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9cb14c1ec0 2 hours ago | parent [-]

As per usual arrangement, the internet can't stand a nuanced opinion, but instead jumps straight to extreme conclusions. Nowhere did I say anything about wallowing in poverty.

	▲	jacobgkau an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Of course, "If you want to have children, you can find a way to afford them." is a very nuanced statement for you to have made. 4 kids on a lower-middle-class income in the US makes me picture poverty, as someone on a lower-middle-class income whose girlfriend is legally in poverty (and with that being the primary reason we haven't gotten married and had kids yet). If you disagree, feel free to describe your circumstances in more nuanced detail. I wonder if it will really end up being a description of lower-middle-class.

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hgoel 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Sorry for wanting my children to not grow up in poverty with immature young adult parents.

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kakacik 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Yeah I am not sure I will call that plumber or electrician which only works from home... some folks really live in bubbles, big or small

	▲	jacobgkau an hour ago \| parent \| next [-]
		I think jobs that can't be done remotely is where the universal childcare services they mentioned would come into play.
	▲	5 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
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