I agree, but I think families are making that sacrifice by choosing quality over quantity. Families are choosing to have a single child and dedicate more resour

I agree, but I think families are making that sacrifice by choosing quality over quantity. Families are choosing to have a single child and dedicate more resources towards raising him or her, rather than having multiple kids. And while it's true that one can't reliably quantify the quality of someone's childhood and subsequent life, the reality is that as countries develop and economies become more advanced the feasibility of having a productive life performing manual labor without much in the way of education reduces. Hence why developed wealthy places tend to have fewer kids and dedicate more resources towards them.