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I think the bigger trends you've missed are: * people can afford fewer children, and many no children at all * I'm guessing here but possibly people are coupl
by chrisseaton 5y ago
I think the bigger trends you've missed are:
* people can afford fewer children, and many no children at all
* I'm guessing here but possibly people are coupling at a lower rate, and are living single long-term
* more people happy to say that they just plain don't want children, and have other interests instead
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- piyh 5y agoPeople are having less sex too. Cost is the biggest one I can think of. If you didn't walk out of the hospital with a 8k bill (on a good delivery) and then have to figure out how to afford $1,500 per month childcare after 12 weeks unpaid leave, people would probably have a lot more kids.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- woobar 5y agoThere is a simple way to verify this theory. Just look at the fertility rates in Europe. Spoiler: their TFR is lower than in the US
- Balero 5y agothese are addressed under "Lower fertility rate". You have given some reasons for this declining fertility rate.
- chrisseaton 5y agoPeople aren’t less fertile (or maybe they are - obesity etc) - the additional factor is that they’re choosing to not exercise their fertility.
- Balero 5y agoFertility rate is defined as number of children per woman [1]. Wether this is because of human choice or something else is irrelevant. https://data.oecd.org/pop/fertility-rates.htm#:~:text=Fertility%20rates-,The%20total%20fertility%20rate%20in%20a%20specific%20year%20is%20defined,prevailing%20age%2Dspecific%20fertility%20rates https://data.oecd.org/pop/fertility-rates.htm#:~:text=Fertil....
- chrisseaton 5y ago> Wether this is because of human choice or something else is irrelevant. If people can't have children you can't fix that as easily as the factors causing people to not choose to have children. A change to tax codes can immediately help alleviate the latter, for example.
- Balero 5y agoSorry, I meant "Wether this is because of human choice or something else is irrelevant to it being named Fertility Rate". Of course you are right that the underlying reasons are all relevant depending on the question, but they are all covered under the umbrella of "fertility rate". In conclusion I am (pedantically?) arguing the definition of the term Fertility Rate, not anything else.
- missedthecue 5y agothe poorest people seem to have the most kids, in every culture.
- toomuchtodo 5y agoWhen you're poor, there is no opportunity cost to have kids (although the economic cost remains).
- rayiner 5y ago> people can afford fewer children, and many no children at all People are much more able to afford children today than in the past, and some of the most affluent places (e.g. DC) are the most childless.
- AlchemistCamp 5y agoIn the post WWII era, it was common for Americans to raise two or three children on a single blue collar salary. That doesn't seem economically viable in recent decades.