The Reason People Aren't Having Kids
theatlantic.com
theatlantic.com
But that's just my opinion.
* 2012 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MERS
* 2002 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SARS
so probably one every 10 years.
And also a new bad variant of flu every 5 years
And many other nasty stuff like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polio that is very close to extinction now.
The basic reason that people aren't having children is that our culture is profoundly hostile to child-raising. How many offices have creches in the next room? How many employers accept employees taking time out to play with their kids (i.e.: teach them) during the working day? What prestige does a mother of five have? That's rhetorical: she carries the stigma of suspected mental illness. Negative prestige.