Every study has shown that income negatively correlates with fertility, them more money people have, the less children they have. This is true regardless of culture.
So no, we don’t have less children now not because we’re poorer, we’re having less children now because we’re wealthier.
“So no, we don’t have less children now not because we’re poorer, we’re having less children now because we’re wealthier.”
The reason that’s true in some cultures is because they are agricultural. If you live on a farm, children are free labor, you have a lot of them. When people take jobs in the city, they have less room and less time. Children are expenses. When I was a child in the suburbs most of my friends were one of two, three or four children families. But at that time a blue-collar worker made enough money to live comfortably. Of course, our lives were simpler and there was less to spend money on. A single-family home where I live now starts in the low three-hundreds. That’s way too expensive for the average family where the income is $76000. In my day everything associated with, say, getting a driver’s license was free. Now the required “drug course” costs the applicant $150. That’s a high bar.
So no, we don’t have less children now not because we’re poorer, we’re having less children now because we’re wealthier.
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Yes, but another important factor is the rampant narcissism in today’s world. When all you can think about is yourself, having children just doesn’t fit in the picture. The problem is serious worldwide and driven by many related factors, including the breakdown of the family unit and the abandonment of religious principles.