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I know people seem to see social factors in declining birth rate, but I mainly see economic causes. As population reduces, housing and employment become more available, meaning more people can afford to have children. A century ago more children meant more income, but now it means less. Reduce the marginal cost of children and demand will increase.

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That sounds plausible, but almost everywhere in the world, wealth and fertility seem to be negatively correlated.

Poor people have kids early and have more, while rich people delay and have few or none.

I'm wondering if these statistics adjust for age. Wealthier people are usually older and therefore less fertile. Also, there may be selection bias at play here since whoever is more wealthy is more likely to prioritize their career over family & children.

Comments like these remind me of people who distrust climate models telling me (a meteorologist) what the climate model ignores, which of course it doesn’t ignore because scientists aren’t morons. There is a lot of questionable statistics in the social sciences, but I am 1000% sure that people studying fertility account for age.

Exactly. No one can afford a house and with inflation and rise in cost of living it will get worse. A lot worse.

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