I don't think it's individualism, perhaps that is the case for a small percentage of people. I think it's the fact that 2 workers per household (or family unit

I don't think it's individualism, perhaps that is the case for a small percentage of people. I think it's the fact that 2 workers per household (or family unit) is now common. More people working in general, generally, reduces the value of labour, people are now paid relatively less. If people are working and have career goals, plus are struggling to pay their own way, having children is less of an attractive prospect. The costs of childcare here in the UK are also very prohibitive. We also have some other significant factors I won't go into. It looks like generally, the more two worker households in a society, the lower the birthrate. There are multiple ways to address this but I believe these are the main reasons. Some numbers (courtesy of claude 4 research): Japan 1925 - 5.4 children per woman - ~20% women working Japan 1950 - 3.6 children per woman - ~35% women working Japan 1980 - 1.8 children per woman - ~47% women working Japan 2000 - 1.4 children per woman - ~56% women working Japan 2025 - 1.2 children per woman - ~74% women working