Financial constraints big driver of global ‘fertility crisis,' UN finds
Job insecurity and unaffordable housing are among the biggest reasons why millions of people worldwide can't have the number of children they want, the United Nations said Tuesday, calling for 'urgent action' to address the 'fertility crisis.'
Together with market research firm YouGov, the UN's sexual and reproductive health agency UNFPA conducted a survey across 14 countries to find out whether people are able to have the families they want.
They found that almost a fifth of adults of reproductive age do not believe they will be able to have as many children as they would like, the UN said in a report Tuesday.
'Financial limitations' were reported as a factor for this by 39% of the 10,000 respondents who have or want to have children. In the Republic of Korea, South Africa and Thailand, more than half of such respondents cited this barrier.
Unemployment or job security was the second-most common factor, reported by 21% of the respondents worldwide, with the third being housing constraints.
Nearly one in five people mentioned fears about the future, including climate change, wars and pandemics, as a reason.
'I want children, but it's becoming more difficult as time passes by,' a 29-year-old woman from Mexico said in the survey. 'It is impossible to buy or have affordable rent in my city. I also would not like to give birth to a child in war times and worsened planetary conditions if that means the baby would suffer because of it.'
The barriers to having children also include the lack of a suitable partner and limited childcare options.
'The issue is lack of choice, not desire (for children or more children), with major consequences for individuals and societies,' Dr. Natalia Kanem, executive director of UNFPA, said in a news release Tuesday. 'That is the real fertility crisis, and the answer lies in responding to what people say they need: paid family leave, affordable fertility care and supportive partners.'
Conversely, nearly one in three people have experienced an unintended pregnancy, according to the UN report, with the figure reaching 51% in Morocco.
Governments and societies have historically prioritized national or societal needs over individual agency, the UN said.
Coercive policies and financial incentives are often used to influence women's fertility, with some countries criminalizing abortion and others, such as Japan, restricting access to voluntary sterilization, the organization noted.
More than one in 10 women and men in Nigeria have more children than they wanted, with a lack of access to family planning services in poorer communities among the reasons, the UN found.
'Both preventing unintended pregnancies and enabling intended pregnancies are profoundly consequential for people's human rights and welfare. Both require supportive environments, policies and norms,' the report said.
'And for both, scholars and policymakers are increasingly looking beyond just women to include men in these measurements, and beyond just heterosexual couples, to include those on the gender continuum and single individuals,' it added.
Programs to alleviate poverty and end gender-based violence, as well as support for single mothers and members of the LGBTQ+ community, will help to address these issues, according to the report.
The 14 countries surveyed – the United States, the Republic of Korea, Thailand, India, Indonesia, Italy, Hungary, Germany, Sweden, Brazil, Mexico, Morocco, South Africa and Nigeria – represent more than a third of the global population, the report noted. In total, more than 14,000 people aged 18–88 were surveyed.
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