Why Are Fewer Young People Around the World Choosing to Have Children?

"I don't know if I want to have children in the future" is a sentence I hear pretty often from my female friends, a sentence country leaders probably hear in their nightmares, a sentence that mirrors preoccupying numbers. The one that attracted the most attention and discussion has to be the fertility rate of South Korea in 2023, when the country's fertility rate reached an all-time low of 0.72.

But what do these numbers mean, and why are politicians more concerned than ever about the future of their country? And most importantly, how do you solve the problem of declining birth rates?

The reason why South Korea's fertility rate of 0.72 caused such a wave of shock is that it clearly shows how populations in certain countries are rapidly shrinking. For a population to remain stable in size without relying on immigration, the fertility rate needs to be around 2.1, so a fertility rate under 1.0 is very concerning. The fertility rate signifies the average number of children a woman would have over her lifetime if current age-specific fertility rates remained constant, so in 2023, South Korea's fertility rate was 0.72 children per woman. This does not mean that every South Korean woman actually had 0.72 children, but rather that 0.72 was the average number of children per woman implied by the fertility rates recorded that year. For a government trying to achieve economic growth, that is a worryingly low number.

A low fertility rate doesn't only mean a smaller population — it also means fewer young people and more elders, fewer workers and more people who require medical care and pensions. This problem of a shrinking population is not faced by South Korea alone; in recent years, many European and East Asian countries have encountered a similar issue.

When 0.72 Becomes a National Concern

The decline in fertility rates can be traced back to multiple causes, such as growing economic uncertainty, changing gender roles, and an increased focus on careers and education. Nowadays, people have to deal with higher housing costs, job insecurity, and general economic precariousness caused by geopolitical conflicts. Add to that the rising cost of childcare: even when schools are public, parents still need to pay for school materials, extracurricular activities, and, quite simply, food and other basic necessities.

Nor does this account for the time and care that parents need to invest in their children to ensure they grow up safe and loved — which brings me back to my friends. Childcare is often considered "a woman's job," so women are expected to raise children with little to no help from their partners. Yet as gender roles change and women gain access to higher education and better job opportunities, some women may find themselves balancing more responsibilities between paid work and childcare.

Sometimes they even have to quit or take breaks from their jobs to keep up with childcare, especially if the family can't afford a babysitter. This can deepen economic precariousness, since the household may now rely on one income instead of two, and can also push women out of the workforce entirely. Many women feel caught between two choices: raise a family, or focus on their career and education. For various reasons — financial instability, high living and childcare costs, personal ambitions, or simply a lack of desire for children — many choose the latter.

Another cause behind the decline in fertility rates is that couples are starting families later in life, mainly due to economic pressures, which is one reason why families today tend to be smaller.

Why Are People Choosing Not to Have Children?

Understanding the causes of declining fertility rates makes it easier to address them. Some countries, such as Japan, South Korea, and Italy, have introduced a "baby bonus," typically a lump sum of money given to parents at birth. Unfortunately, this is a limited solution that, on its own, is unlikely to reverse declining fertility rates, since it does not fully address the long-term costs of raising a child or the burden of childcare and domestic work that comes with it.

The baby bonus has also drawn significant criticism from some women and critics, who argue that financial incentives alone do not address the wider challenges of parenthood. Critics point out that it fails to address the root of the problem: a system that still expects women to shoulder most of the domestic work, leaving them exhausted and unwilling to have children — or more of them.

Instead of relying on short-term fixes, governments must tackle the root causes of declining fertility rates by lowering the cost of childcare, improving public education, supporting women through initiatives that educate men about the daily realities of domestic labor, and introducing flexible working hours that let parents care for their children without being forced out of the workforce.

The declining fertility rate is not simply a demographic statistic — it is a symptom of deeper economic and social pressures that governments have yet to fully confront. South Korea's record-low rate of 0.72 in 2023 is not an isolated anomaly but a warning sign shared by many developed nations, one that reflects rising living costs, precarious job markets, and factors including the unequal burden that childcare can place on women.

Baby bonuses and one-time financial incentives may grab headlines, but they are unlikely to solve the problem on their own. Real, lasting change will require governments to rethink the structures that make parenthood so difficult to combine with a fulfilling career: affordable childcare, equitable parental leave, workplace flexibility, and a genuine cultural shift in how domestic responsibilities are shared between partners.

Until having a child becomes easier to combine with work and personal ambitions — particularly for women —birth rates are unlikely to recover, no matter how large the bonus attached to them.

Can Governments Actually Reverse the Trend?

Author: Anna Noori Olivieri
Editor & Publisher: Lucía Lobato

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