all over the world, Family size is decreasing.
In some rich countries they are now considerably less Population is shrinking, and at least in some countries it’s become clear that this is a trend that doesn’t necessarily level out anywhere. For example, South Korea now has an average number of children per woman 0.72, and is projected to keep declining. (2.1 live births per woman is the number that will maintain a stable population.) There is almost no coming back from this.
But is that a bad thing? And does it merit a policy solution?
Many people are understandably shy about considering family size as a matter of policy. On an individual level, people should have children if they want children, and people who don’t want to have children at all should not be parents.
There is something that population or birth rate “should” – especially given The grim history of mass sterilization In the name of “fixing” high birth rates for the sake of the world. (It turned out that the announcements that the birth rate would lead to a global decline were wildly wrong and atrocious carried out on a grand scale Against the world’s poorest people… no use.)
And there is also something disturbing about seeing children as instruments, creating entirely new human beings, for the sake of some national political project. I have three kids and plan to have three more, and I still find something deeply disturbing about seeing people online proclaim that they “left reproductionSo that their political views prevail over the next generation. Don’t they understand that children are human and often don’t see eye to eye with their parents?
The people who talk the most about their responsibility to have as many children as possible often don’t like their children or their lives. It’s a view of parenthood that’s about as interesting as it gets. And it’s an exclusionary one – those on the right Champion the cause of parenting Often the same people who Spent decades trying to keep people like me from getting married and having children illegal.
Having children can actually be good
But with all that said … I think, indeed, population decline is a bad thing and deserves a policy solution. Many of the goods of modern society are easy to supply at scale, so a shrinking society becomes a poor society. Increasing productivity will go towards compensating for our losses rather than improving living standards.
When individual cities and counties look at their population Half fall, it has a profoundly damaging effect on those who remain, and I don’t think countries that have halved their populations will play it any differently. And when birth rates fall to extreme lows, countries often take extreme (and fairly stupid and usually ineffective) measures to combat it. State-run dating app per Declaration of national emergency.
It seems to me that the healthiest policy approach here is to mainstream family-centered policies before There is a national emergency, and it is created normal and basic Desire for children — not to meet some national goal, but simply for basic human reasons — something that is normal, healthy, and absolutely possible to embrace without crossing any moral lines.
There are extremists on the internet Calling for voluntary human extinction To surrender the planet to worthy creatures, and extremists on the Internet are making a call The end of feminism and the ban on birth controlThe people of the United States are the majority have children. They love their children and prioritize their children. Many of them will be selected To have more children if structural factors such as housing and education permit.
The factors that often stand in the way of having the families they want in the United States are not primarily ideological, but depressingly mundane. High housing prices Discourage or delay childbearingOr as many kids as they want
There’s also a cultural shift at work here: I talk to many young adults who don’t spend time with babies and children because of declining church attendance and third places where they can mingle with people at different stages of life. It’s hard to know if you want children if you decide to go blindly.
It’s also hard to ask for kids if you’re told they’re a net burden to the world. Some people worry that they shouldn’t have children because of climate change, and many others think that having children should be an indulgence rather than a social act as part of building a better world.
The natalism conversation we should be having
What I want is a cultural and policy conversation about how to support families that starts with addressing these issues, I think most people agree on this: that having children can be wonderful and a source of great joy and meaning in life. , though it is far from the only source of joy and meaning in life; We can do more to create communities where children are supported, welcomed and have meaningful independence; People who don’t want kids shouldn’t have them but people who do to do Children who want to be supported should make that a priority.
I think a healthy culture is one that ensures that the world we live in is good and a good place to raise the next generation, that it is getting better and that our children will be among those who will join the great project of continuing it. And better.
Right now, there’s a profound disconnect between the kind of people who talk about having children on the Internet and the actual experience of parenthood. I think closing that gap, even just a little bit, will put us in a better position to have a conversation about what may be one of the most important issues in a society.
