Why Are Birthrates Plummeting Worldwide?

Birth rates are plummeting worldwide – and while this might seem like nothing new – as it has been the case in developed countries for quite some time. The thing that is interesting is that we are seeing declining birth rates everywhere and the standard explanations that you have heard in the past don’t really hold up.

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[djayjp]

I like this quote: "20 years ago the internet was an escape from the real world. Now the real world is an escape from the internet."

[briannyob]

I grew up hearing, "don't have children if you can't afford them."

[hydoffdhagaweyne]

CEO: 'We’re a family.' Me: Cool, one dysfunctional family is enough—don’t need another.

[coltonjohnson]

“Why isn’t anyone having kids?” They asked, as they required 80 hour work weeks and lowered salaries. “Nobody appreciates the work of stay at home mothers!” They cried, as they refused to help or pay mothers for their work.

[somethingsock]

As a young adult affected by depression and cost of living increases I have no choice but to continue watching Patrick Boyle videos

[PauloZunguze]

Judging by the title and thumbnail Patrick has once again been forced to drift from the main focus of this channel, which is of course rap

[hankhillsnrrwurethra]

They keep talking about the work force running short and yet my employer just announced 3, 000 layoffs. I hate this time line.

[helmutzollner]

Excellent piece! Thank you.

I observe a similar trend in my now 12 yo daughter. The kids do not play with each other any longer. Even when you make the kids go out to play there is nobody in the playgrounds. First there are very few kids and the few that exist often are encouraged to stay inside and spend time on games consoles or social media.
There is such a crazy fear of accidents and seksual predators fired up by media, that modern kids are essentially prisoners in solitary confinement.

Having noticed that, we as family chose to live in a very rural and safe area in Bavaria. We even went out to live in a farming village, but there are still empty playgrounds and no kids playing outside!

Trying to restrict mobile phone usage in your kids immediately leads to more isolation and bullying by other kids in school.
Most telling in my eyes is the eery silence of school kids waiting for the school bus at the bus stop. In my time ( in the 1980s ) that was an extremely noisy affair, because the kids were playing or quarrelling with each other. Nowadays, a bus stop is just like a still painting titled "loneliness in a crowd".

We really built the doomsday machine in the last 30 years.
People like Zuckerberg make a mint peddling their services and encouraging that development.

Your conclusion is that the reason for the population implosion is the epidemic of loneliness?
Very Interesting.
So, ultimately the splitting up of large families into the modern nuclear family and finally individualism is the reason for that. I guess there is something to be said for the bullying grandma's and aunties sorting out partners for the busy youngsters in their prime.

[cybernaut_ev]

If we need more people so badly, why is it so difficult to get a job?

[k-c]

No house, no social life, no financial and material security means I will never be having any children, its already late for myself and many like me.

[shinnaay]

You could say the birth rate is plummeting RAPidly without Patrick’s mixtape

[thesneakymemedealer]

it's almost like when you make basic things like housing or healthcare needlessly expensive while removing any semblance of a safety net people are less likely to gamble on being able to support a child along with their own needs

[LambdaTheory]

Housing is too expensive for people to start their lives

[AndrejChernysh]

I cannot afford an own apartement, I can barely afford to feed myself. Having kids is the very least of my worries.

[fredfart]

People are like panda bears, we don’t breed in captivity.

[c.rutherford]

Haiti has one of the highest birthrates in the world, its population has exploded from around 480, 000 when it was founded to almost 12 million today (26 times as many people now). The island is now crowded and stripped of trees and resources. And it went from being one of the richest to one of the poorest nations with the lowest standard of living. More people does not always mean more economic prosperity!

[zacchk]

I don’t want my children to live the life I’m living

[jasonmartinez]

American here. I remember my high school teachers telling us to work our @sses off so we could get good grades and go to college. In college, we were told to work our @sses off to get our college diplomas so we would get hired by good companies. After going to work at a good company, we were told to work our @sses off to make money for the company. Work, work, work. And we wonder why young people aren't having kids.

[gwynn]

I replaced social media with bobbin lace making. Something I found on social media. My time on the phone went from 3 hours a day to 15 minutes. Now I have a weird hobby/conversation starter and am less depressed. Also, lace making is so freaking weird, it’s basically two moves and it’s blowing my mind. Old ladies are freakin wizards.

[MissMiaAfroGoddess]

Talk about day care costs. Being pregnant for me was the easy part, paying $400/week for day care hurt my heart and my pockets