I believe one reason that is rarely talked about is that having children later in life makes you more tired than if you had them in your 20s. In the times when people were having more children, they were having them early. We all now how it is easier to shrug off a sleepless night in your 20s than in your 30s. We use that advantage to stay out drinking more when we are young, but it was probably evolved to help stay up at night when children were crying. So I think our cultural child bearing age is now misaligned from our biological adaptations, it feels exhausting to have children in your 30s
What Will the World Look Like with Less Babies?
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Re: What Will the World Look Like with Less Babies?
#52__deleted__
Can you share your opinions on appendix and cancer?
Re: What Will the World Look Like with Less Babies?
#53> No one really knows why birth rates are dropping so fast. [...] Many people have theories but if you critically examine them they fall apart. > [#1] People do not have money for kids. [#2] The Government isn’t Providing pro-natal policies. [#3] This is happening only in societies that are not religious. [#4] Women are working and not having kids. That seems like an incomplete list. For example, how about this one:…
I feel like a test case in what is happening even if it's cliche. Wanted to have kids around my late 20s, but had tons of trouble just dating at that time, much less finding a partner. In my mid-to-late 30s, I had multiple people I was seeing request/give ultimatums on timelines of having kids together after they'd decided they like me, but we'd barely started dating (which I obviously couldn't commit to with someone I barely knew). Now I'm over 40 and have no intention of raising children into my 60s just for the sake of checking a box.
I just don't think that many people have life go their way, at the right time, with the right person.
Re: What Will the World Look Like with Less Babies?
#54Between four and six billion humans seems like a good target. There were only 2.5 billion in 1950, since then automation has advanced leaps and bounds meaning an advanced lifestyle with fewer workers and less resource drain is entirely possible with a more sustainable population size.
Why? There are huge stretches of the world that are basically uninhabited.
Even in densely populated places like Europe there are large areas with low population density.
People are crowding in cities and then complaining that there are too many people.
Resource drain is no longer an issue once we got an economy running on photovoltaics and nuclear energy. Everything can be recycled given enough energy.
Re: What Will the World Look Like with Less Babies?
#55> fertility rates tend to fall below the level needed to maintain the population, 2.1 children per woman. Why 2.1 and not 2?
I think at least infant mortality and gender imbalance at birth (more boys are born than girls) require it to be above 2.
Re: What Will the World Look Like with Less Babies?
#56This is a rather serious issue but very few people care. It is at least as important as global warming. Media and politicians don't care at all.
Why is it serious?
Most countries social security systems rely on workers today paying in.
The dependency ratio of workers to people on pensions may get to the point where it breaks.
Re: What Will the World Look Like with Less Babies?
#57I believe one reason that is rarely talked about is that having children later in life makes you more tired than if you had them in your 20s. In the times when people were having more children, they were having them early. We all now how it is easier to shrug off a sleepless night in your 20s than in your 30s. We use that advantage to stay out drinking more when we are young, but it was probably evolved to help stay…
+1 for
'We all now how it is easier to shrug off a sleepless night in your 20s than in your 30s.'
Re: What Will the World Look Like with Less Babies?
#58> No one really knows why birth rates are dropping so fast. [...] Many people have theories but if you critically examine them they fall apart. > [#1] People do not have money for kids. [#2] The Government isn’t Providing pro-natal policies. [#3] This is happening only in societies that are not religious. [#4] Women are working and not having kids. That seems like an incomplete list. For example, how about this one:…
I agree. More people should know about the demographic transition theory:
Re: What Will the World Look Like with Less Babies?
#59This is a rather serious issue but very few people care. It is at least as important as global warming. Media and politicians don't care at all.
They are connected though. I know many people under the age of 35 who choose not to have kids because they don't want to bring children into a world threatened by climate change.
Here in Finland, a female child born today has a >50% chance to live to an age of 100. That means our new children will probably still be alive in 2123. The projections for worst-case climate change over that time span are terrifying. You can't blame people for not wanting that kind of future for their children.
If you want people to have more kids in the West, doing something about climate change is part of the solution, not a separate issue.
Re: What Will the World Look Like with Less Babies?
#60> No one really knows why birth rates are dropping so fast. [...] Many people have theories but if you critically examine them they fall apart. > [#1] People do not have money for kids. [#2] The Government isn’t Providing pro-natal policies. [#3] This is happening only in societies that are not religious. [#4] Women are working and not having kids. That seems like an incomplete list. For example, how about this one:…
Pro-natal policies are a drop in the bucket compared to the fact that basics like housing costs 10x more than with the previous high-baby-having generations
> basics like housing costs 10x more than with the previous high-baby-having generations
Thank you. I'm a millionaire. I want kids. I see no near-term path to having them without their costs rivaling that of financing multi-million dollar boats [1].
The fundamental problem is children are extremely expensive, particularly for the ambitious. (I'm putting aside the enormous liabilities that arise from e.g. one's child being disabled or trans or simply rebellious in some parts of the country.)
[1] https://cpag.org.uk/sites/default/files/CPAG%20Cost%20of%20a... page 8