US fertility rate keeps dropping to record lows. Do cost of living and stagnant wages play a big role in this?

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by wakeup2019

29 comments

  1. Same all over the world

    Developing and developed countries alike

  4. Everybody is exhausted. Four days week should be here since 1990.

    We are submissive peasants.

  5. For me its a mystery how they even start in USA on kids.

    I see stories here of the hospital bill of having birth things like 40 000$

    Either u guys all earn tons of money or there must be many rich people there… 

  6. We also have come to accept that our leaders are incapable of dealing with the enormous threat of climate change, and many now feel that it is unethical to birth a child into an unstable environment. The next 60 years could be quite unpleasant.

  7. Maybe the men around the world aren’t doing their dances like they should be. The male birds do it. Why not the men? (I am just kidding btw)

  8. Can’t afford babies in the chair labor slave economy. Now you know

  9. As it turns out, it is more of an issue of abundance. It is the abundant countries that have issues with birthrates. When you have enough things in your life, you seek more of it, and often that means you forgo children and no longer seek it. It’s when you have nothing and you seek abundance that you have lots of children and that fulfills your life.

  10. Cost of living and stagnant wages definitely play a big role for me, personally. I am not going to have children if I can’t afford them.

    I think there are many other contributing factors as well, like women participating in education and the workforce, which gives them greater autonomy and choice (all good things). Birth rates seem to fall in all countries following the liberation of women, and it makes sense as to why – women are free to pursue careers and aren’t forced into motherhood.

    Access to contraceptives and sex education also play a role in reducing unplanned pregnancy.

    I think in some ways humans are also becoming more unhealthy and less fertile. Obesity rates in the United States are appalling. Fat people generally have less sex, have a harder time conceiving, and are more prone to complications during pregnancy. Obese men are also many times more likely to have erectile dysfunction.

    Falling birth rates may also be a consequence of technology and our modern world. It is easier than ever to meet many social and sexual needs without ever having to leave the comfort of one’s home. Granted, there are obvious negative consequences associated with replacing human intimacy and relationships with pornography and social media.

    This leads to conversations about the disappearance of third spaces as well. There are fewer places for people to meet and hang out now in comparison to when I was a kid. In the United States we’ve created a world where it is very difficult for adults to meet people and maintain relationships.

    Environmental changes may also be at play. Climate change makes me reconsider my desire to have children. I am hesitant to bring children into a world that seems to be on the precipice of making the earth uninhabitable.

    Testosterone levels in men have been falling for decades which could also play a role.

    There are many more contributing factors but I need to get back to work. ![gif](emote|free_emotes_pack|joy)

  11. That’s a decent hypothesis for the decline from 2010. 

    The whole chart showing back to 1909 is a little comical. There’s been some very positive advancements since then that would of course lead to a decline in fertility rates. 

  13. I never felt a burning desire to have a kid. Now I’ve finally reached a point where I’m glad I don’t have one. This is a shit show.

  14. Working too much and not earning enough to afford housing or basic living standards definitely plays a huge role in this. Rich people have kids because they can without the stress of quality of life the children have.

  15. Cost of living is a huge issue but so is stability. Even if you have a stable relationship and an affordable home, your odds of being laid off in 5 years are ever present.

  17. My personal ancedote, I always wanted kids…then i had a miscarriage, without insurance. $4000. FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS to tell me, yup, you are indeed having a miscarriage, now off you go (no d&c, sent home to pass it naturally) I was set up to see a doctor for aftercare, only to get my appointments canceled twice before they finally got in to see a nurse practitioner…by that time i was already on my next cycle. It was a month later when woe vs wade got turned over. Then women started getting threatened with prison time….it was traumatic to be completely honest. Our sex life suffered big time because I was terrified of miscarrying again and now possibly suffering an even worse experience than the first time.

    So, yeah, the cost of living, the cost of medical, the absolute lack of medical care I experienced, and the fact that my jobs parental leave is only 3 WEEKS (how the fuck am i supposed to recover, bond with my baby, and hop right back on the meat grinder happily only 3 weeks after giving birth? Insanity.) All that and more has completely cured me of my desire to have children.

  18. Yes- plus lack of affordable child care, little to no family support (in recent generations) women exerting their own rights and opportunities and realizing they don’t need a partner/ family to succeed and be fulfilled.

  19. What is the sustain rate on this chart?

    Permanent growth is going to be difficult to maintain with population decline.

  21. Student loans and housing cost paired with low wages

  22. Short term trends are likely economic (daycare, low pay, job security)

    Long term trend is urbanization. Farmers have lots of kids because the food is available and they need extra labor.

  23. 32 here. I’ve spent my entire life doing what I was told would lead to prosperity. I went into debt to put myself through school. I worked countless hours of overtime over the years. Always went above and beyond only to recieve more work. I’ve watched those who broke or bent the rules rise through the ranks. I’ve watched those above me go on lavish vacations with the money I generated for them. Now I find myself close to homelessness, drowning in debt, no friends, no community. So yeah, fuck this system. I’m not feeding it. I refuse to add any more labor to the pool until we figure out this wealth inequality shit. These rich fucks need to start working if they want something. Writing a check and making calls is not work.

  24. I think many people feel like not having kids is a personal choice and also feels like it’s a good method of showing frustration to the world and potentially being able to disrupt and wreak havoc on the rich and the ruling class since they need our labor.

    But in this current day and age, honestly the rich people and the ruling class can care less. They actually PREFER if we have less kids. They prefer if we just die out, that we have no kids of our own to carry on our genetic variations and ideas and ideals, that we don’t have any future generation that we can teach our culture and our view of the world to. This is a much simpler and quieter way of eugenics, that the rich people and ruling class can continue to propagate, while the less fortunate cannot or would not or choose not to, and essentially voluntarily give in to the eugenics of the rich and the ruling class. They have much less pressure in keeping the working class reproducing, since automaton continues to improve and develop, there is less and less “use” of them for the people who don’t share their ideals. Eventually, only the kids of the rich, or people who agree to their ideals and in turn participate in the same ruthless capitalistic systems gets to produce and pass down their biological genes and ideals, while the rest will simply die out, with a huge portion of those people voluntarily choosing to not pass down their genes nor have kids of their own so they can teach their ideas to. It’s eugenics in its finest degree.

  25. I think it has more to do with cultural factors than economic ones. But also economic.

    I think people are just absolutely too tired and burdened to focus on much more than what’s for dinner tonight, let alone kids

  27. I think money has less to do with it and more that today’s 20-30 somethings are too busy with themselves to have a long-term partner / marriage and sacrifice to raise children. They’d rather have the freedom to do their own thing on their own time. Children are seen more now as an inconvenience or a burden preventing single non-committed people from living life to the fullest.

  28. Also, our kids safety is slowly being eroded. I am afraid of sending my kids to school because of school shooters

  29. It’s education. Americans are highly literate. That’s what’s driving this.

    People know shit’s bad. They’ll go against their biological need to reproduce to prevent more kids from being birthed into this shitstorm.

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