I've Seen The 'Real Fertility Crisis' Up Close – I Couldn't Have A Baby Even If I Wanted One
In my ears, news of international conflict plays next to conversations about welfare cuts. My bank account is pretty bare following a rent payment that's gone up slightly more than the London standard 32% since I moved here in 2019, a year that kicked off a pandemic made more likely by issues like deforestation.
I never wanted kids, but even if I did, I don't think I'd feel broody right now. And if I was, child-rearing would be financially unviable, or at least deeply irresponsible.
It's not that this is the first generation to reach childbearing years in the face of serious conflict, wealth inequality, and existential dread, or that I'm facing the worst end of those (I am not).
But a new survey of over 14,000 people by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has shown that declining fertility rates across the world appear to be driven more by economic factors and other causes outside of women's individual control than by their will.
'Vast numbers of people are unable to create the families they want,' Dr Natalia Kanem, executive director of the UNFPA, said.
'The issue is lack of choice, not desire, with major consequences for individuals and societies.
'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.'
It's a sentiment I've seen among my peers – even loved ones who really want kids simply cannot have them.
'It is impossible to buy or have affordable rent in my city,' an anonymous Mexican woman told the UNFPA when explaining why she hasn't had the children she wants yet.
She's among the 54% of respondents from 14 countries who put 'economic concerns' at the top of their list. It's the most common reason friends who want kids say they've capped the number they'll have, or ruled it out entirely.
24% are affected by health issues, meanwhile (a relative who is on one of the NHS's many far-too-long waitlists has put off having kids for now), while 19% say they're just too worried about the future to grow their family to their ideal size.
Almost 20% of reproductive-age adults won't be able to have the number of kids they want due to factors like these, the UNFPA report shows.
That's a shame, not only because people who are keen to start a family are being prevented from doing so, but also because birth rates are below the replacement rates in a lot of the world.
'Everywhere we look, people are struggling to freely realise their reproductive aspirations,' the report reads.
The report rightly warns against treating fertility rates as a resource best managed by punishing or restrictive laws.
'Whether the policies are coercive or not, there are real risks to treating fertility rates as a faucet to be turned on or off,' it reads.
'Many of the countries that are today seeking to increase fertility have, within the last 40 years, sought to decrease birth rates' – countries like China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Thailand and Türkiye.
Coercive methods of population control can be unethical and are not beneficial.
'The real solution to the crisis of reproductive agency we are facing is to build a more equitable, sustainable and caring world that supports individuals to have the families they aspire to,' the report reads.
It's not about setting demands for women which can violate our human rights, the UNFPA add, but about seriously considering that 'Many people would choose to have children if they could be sure the world they are bringing them into offered a clean environment, a healthy economy and a safe place to live.'
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