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The question is not why the birth rate is falling – it’s why anyone has kids at all
The New Statesman ^ | 4 July 2022 | John Allege

Posted on 07/05/2022 6:17:50 PM PDT by anthropocene_x

The mysterious thing is not that people are having fewer kids. It’s that they’re still having as many as they are.

Numbers first. In late January the Office for National Statistics noted, in an “ooh that’s interesting” kind of a way, that in 2020, for the first time, half of women in England and Wales remained childless by their 30th birthday.

In economy in which wages barely rise, a huge pile of debt if they’re a graduate and a housing market in which the only way to attain secure housing is to buy but the only way of buying is to inherit money, move a long way from the best jobs markets or, preferably, both. Throw in the cost of childcare, often compared to a second mortgage — which, given the size of mortgages these days, is no small deal — and the whole venture seems prohibitively, terrifyingly expensive.

Is it any wonder that people might not want to have children when they’re living in a shared flat, or don’t have room for them, or know they can be evicted at almost no notice? Or when they can’t see how they can afford a kid if they don’t keep working, but don’t see how they can afford to keep working if they have a kid?

(Excerpt) Read more at newstatesman.com ...


TOPICS: Society
KEYWORDS: biden; birthrate; economy; millennials
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1 posted on 07/05/2022 6:17:50 PM PDT by anthropocene_x
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To: anthropocene_x

If you’re not having kids then you are turning the world over to the people that are.


2 posted on 07/05/2022 6:21:58 PM PDT by Eccl 10:2 (Prov 3:5 --- "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding")
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To: anthropocene_x

Women still had children during the Great Depression. I know, I know, “the pill” hadn’t been invented yet.


3 posted on 07/05/2022 6:22:43 PM PDT by EvilCapitalist (Sodomy is nothing to be proud of.)
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To: anthropocene_x

Americans who have kids are selfish and uncaring about the planet and repulsive pro lifers, but illegals who invade and have many kids are virtuous. /s


4 posted on 07/05/2022 6:23:22 PM PDT by The_Media_never_lie (Brandon's got this.)
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To: anthropocene_x

Muslims don’t seem to have a problem with sucking it up and still raising large families. At this rate they will simply breed us out of existence.

Failure of successful people(s) to multiply could be our peril over the long term.


5 posted on 07/05/2022 6:28:56 PM PDT by plain talk
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To: anthropocene_x
Declining birth rates since 2020…

The Experimental Gene Therapy shot made the “Why should” question moot.

Those that took the shot(s) had that decision removed from them.

6 posted on 07/05/2022 6:29:10 PM PDT by Deaf Smith (When a Texan takes his chances, chances will be taken that's for sure.)
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To: anthropocene_x

Alcohol?

Dont understand kids are often a byproduct of sex?


7 posted on 07/05/2022 6:32:15 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: anthropocene_x
“Kids these days have four legs. You see it all over. Millenniums have dogs now instead of kids. No hassles, no responsibilities.... you wanna go to Europe? Dump the “ kids” with “grandma”.

It’s a whole new world people....

8 posted on 07/05/2022 6:35:04 PM PDT by China Clipper ( Animals? I love animals. See? There's one there, right next to the potatoes!)
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To: anthropocene_x
The same childless mind set now exists for USA immigrants.

In 2019 - the year before Covid arrived - the birth rate for foreign born Americans fell below the replacement level.

That was the first time that happened since American birth and immigration records have been kept.

9 posted on 07/05/2022 6:35:25 PM PDT by zeestephen
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To: The_Media_never_lie

I’ve thought about it in terms of carbon being added to the atmosphere.
Leftists go on and on about how evil we are for doing it at higher rates than 3rd world people. Some even suggest we kill our selves.

Then these SAME leftists Cheer when another 2-3 million illegals come in from 3rd world nations and immediately increase their carbon footprint.

—Leftists are nothing if not hypocrites—-
Me, a few years ago.


10 posted on 07/05/2022 6:37:09 PM PDT by Phoenix8
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To: plain talk

In the words of a Muslim woman to another in a political cartoon: “They blow up so fast.”


11 posted on 07/05/2022 6:42:00 PM PDT by Rurudyne (Standup Philosopher)
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To: Rurudyne

Unfortunately they also take a lot of innocent people with them when they “blow up so fast.”


12 posted on 07/05/2022 6:46:26 PM PDT by EvilCapitalist (Sodomy is nothing to be proud of.)
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To: anthropocene_x
From the article:

If the government is genuinely concerned about the birth rate there are things it could do: make renting more secure, or invest massively in childcare or, hell, even reform planning rules to build enough new family homes.

No. The only way to inspire people to have more children is for government to get out of their lives. Nobody wants to raise a child in an Orwellian dystopia.

13 posted on 07/05/2022 6:47:11 PM PDT by cockroach_magoo
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To: EvilCapitalist

“people might not want to have children when they’re living in a shared flat”

People had kids hundreds of thousands of years ago, back when they had no clothes and huddled around a fire at night terrified that the lions might come by for a meal.


14 posted on 07/05/2022 6:48:31 PM PDT by packagingguy
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To: packagingguy

At least when they had no clothes they were halfway to having children.


15 posted on 07/05/2022 6:51:08 PM PDT by EvilCapitalist (Sodomy is nothing to be proud of.)
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To: EvilCapitalist

The birth rate during the depression was a record low that was not matched again until 1980.

Women actually keep their knees together when food scarcity, economic woes and social anxiety all occur at once.


16 posted on 07/05/2022 6:56:37 PM PDT by Valpal1 (Not even the police are safe from the police!!!)
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To: Deaf Smith

Declining birth rates since 2020…
The Experimental Gene Therapy shot made the “Why should” question moot.

Those that took the shot(s) had that decision removed from them.

Have you seen the Amazon series Utopia? THat’s the exact plot. Maybe it wasn’t fiction.


17 posted on 07/05/2022 7:00:29 PM PDT by sunny bonobo
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To: All

.
Society is collapsing.

One US Senate candidate today said the Founding of this Country is awful, and he’s his parties front runner.

Another State Senator candidate twerked upside down for Votes.

Institutions like Schools hate the country.

Politicians are trying to erase traditional America.

It’s going to crash, Debt is mathematically out of reach, and they’re sending Ukraine whatever they want while the same Politicians say that Social Security Retirees are going to have to accept less $$.

One Ruling Class, one State run Media, and the rest are peasants.

.


18 posted on 07/05/2022 7:02:10 PM PDT by AnthonySoprano (Lindsey Graham: How can anyone be Mad at Joe Biden)
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To: Valpal1

My Grandmother was 1 of at least 3 children, and she was born in 1926. I say at least 3 because I don’t know if she had any other brothers or sisters. Good luck getting women nowadays to have 3 children.


19 posted on 07/05/2022 7:09:37 PM PDT by EvilCapitalist (Sodomy is nothing to be proud of.)
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To: anthropocene_x

Maybe read the article before posting?


20 posted on 07/05/2022 7:11:08 PM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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