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Countries such as Portugal, South Korea, Iceland, and Latvia have more affordable childcare, more subsidies, and more parental leave than the US, yet even fewer

Countries such as Portugal, South Korea, Iceland, and Latvia have more affordable childcare, more subsidies, and more parental leave than the US, yet even fewer cousins. [1] https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2021/07/01/which-countries-have-the-most-generous-child-care-policies https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2021/07/01/which-co... [2] https://www.euronews.com/next/2023/03/06/childcare-puzzle-which-countries-in-europe-have-the-highest-and-lowest-childcare-costs https://www.euronews.com/next/2023/03/06/childcare-puzzle-wh...

DoingIsLearning 3y ago
Like most human related things there is no single cause. I can't comment on Iceland. However, South Korea has one of the most crushing work cultures in the world, with insane work hours. Most people are not even in a relationship yet alone with kids. In Portugal you have a huge problem of disposable income. Median salaries are insanely low and stagnant when adjusted to COL. To the point that by now most former 'Iron Curtain' EU members have surpassed Portugal in workers income both adjusted and absolute.
- satvikpendem 3y ago
  The fact is, when comparing across all countries in the world, that the harsher the conditions, the more kids there were. Do people really believe that their ancestors lived in better times for raising children than currently? It is precisely because they didn't that they had so many, as they needed labor for agriculture or to make sure at least a few survived since so many would die before the age of 5. Now, I am not having children either, but I will not deny that even in the best of countries, when controlling for all of these factors, people still aren't having children simply because they have no want or need of having them. That's it, that's the reality. Now it is an uncomfortable truth for many, but many people nowadays, me included, just don't want them, for no particular reason at all.
felipeerias 3y ago
Child subsidies are a great help for parents, but they don't seem that successful at getting people to have kids in the first place. Apparently, married people are having kids at roughly the same rate as they did decades ago. However, fewer people are getting married and far fewer kids are being born outside of wedlock. These are not necessarily negative developments, at least at the individual level, but they do point towards a significant change in human culture and society: increasingly, only people with a strong intrinsic drive to have kids will do so. I don't think that we can predict the effect of this trend a few generations from now.

DoingIsLearning 3y ago

Like most human related things there is no single cause. I can't comment on Iceland. However, South Korea has one of the most crushing work cultures in the world, with insane work hours. Most people are not even in a relationship yet alone with kids. In Portugal you have a huge problem of disposable income. Median salaries are insanely low and stagnant when adjusted to COL. To the point that by now most former 'Iron Curtain' EU members have surpassed Portugal in workers income both adjusted and absolute.

satvikpendem 3y ago
The fact is, when comparing across all countries in the world, that the harsher the conditions, the more kids there were. Do people really believe that their ancestors lived in better times for raising children than currently? It is precisely because they didn't that they had so many, as they needed labor for agriculture or to make sure at least a few survived since so many would die before the age of 5. Now, I am not having children either, but I will not deny that even in the best of countries, when controlling for all of these factors, people still aren't having children simply because they have no want or need of having them. That's it, that's the reality. Now it is an uncomfortable truth for many, but many people nowadays, me included, just don't want them, for no particular reason at all.

felipeerias 3y ago

Child subsidies are a great help for parents, but they don't seem that successful at getting people to have kids in the first place. Apparently, married people are having kids at roughly the same rate as they did decades ago. However, fewer people are getting married and far fewer kids are being born outside of wedlock. These are not necessarily negative developments, at least at the individual level, but they do point towards a significant change in human culture and society: increasingly, only people with a strong intrinsic drive to have kids will do so. I don't think that we can predict the effect of this trend a few generations from now.