Add to that insane workaholic culture, like the "996" culture that pervades China and South Korea. Look into South Korea's birth rates for an extreme example of

Add to that insane workaholic culture, like the "996" culture that pervades China and South Korea. Look into South Korea's birth rates for an extreme example of what this does. People don't have time to even date, let alone marry or raise kids. Japan's "salaryman" culture is another example. Note that many of the loudest population decline doomers (e.g. Musk) also push exactly this work culture, and are generally opposed to social welfare of the sort that would make it easier for people to have children. Their solution seems to be to take rights away from women. Not only do I find this odious, but I don't think it will work either. I think it will result in something like the also South Korean 4B movement: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4B_movement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4B_movement -- which will further depress birth rates. People who have tasted freedom do not go back without a fight. If you tell women they have to give up their rights and have babies, they will respond by refusing to have babies. Then there's the fact that men who actually care about their wives, sisters, and daughters, will not support this either. The root problem with birth rates is this: modern society transforms children from an asset into an economic burden. In un-developed societies children are needed as both labor and old age insurance. In developed societies both of these can be obtained more easily, or are supplied by the economy and/or the state. I can sit here and write code and obtain both of those alone. I don't even need a spouse to do it, let alone kids. It's a direct consequence of societal wealth, which is why you see birth rates decline in all wealthier societies regardless of culture, language, ethnicity, or religion. This neatly disproves the far right's idea that pushing trad right bullshit will raise birth rates. Birth rates are as low in Orban's Hungary and Putin's Russia as they are in the rest of Europe. Very Catholic Poland has a lower birth rate than much less religious Sweden (as of 2023). Very Islamic Iran's birth rate is the same as the Bahamas and lower than less religious Argentina. Birth rates are declining in Africa as it develops. If we want higher birth rates, we will probably have to do what we do with other things the free market is inadequate at providing: directly subsidize birth and child raising. It's the same reason we directly subsidize infrastructure and defense, other things the free market isn't great at providing. A start would be to greatly increase the child tax credit, provide free birth and post-natal care, free preschool, and do something about the runaway cost of college. Start by making it easy for people who want to have kids to have them. Then, if that's not enough, consider even more direct subsidies. Maybe the Social Security system in the US could be reimagined as a demographic support system that funds both ends of the curve: free health care and support for birth and child raising, and end of life support and care. They're connected of course. You need the former to keep providing the latter.