Latest news with #birthrates
CNN
10 hours ago
- Health
- CNN
5 things to know for June 10: LA protests, Anti-ICE protests spread, Ukraine, Vaccines, Harvard
In an effort to boost birth rates, China is focusing on pain. Specifically, the excruciating agony of childbirth. While the practice of providing epidural anesthesia services to healthy pregnant women who are seeking pain relief during labor is widely utilized in many countries, only around 30% of pregnant women in China receive epidurals. To help promote a more 'friendly childbearing environment,' large hospitals in China must now offer this service. Smaller hospitals should be prepared to provide epidurals by 2027. Here's what else you need to know to Get Up to Speed and On with Your Day. Get '5 Things' in your inbox If your day doesn't start until you're up to speed on the latest headlines, then let us introduce you to your new favorite morning fix. Sign up here for the '5 Things' newsletter. The city is terrified, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said. Not of crime or protests, but of ICE. 'I can't emphasize enough the level of fear and terror that is in Angelenos right now, not knowing if tomorrow or tonight it might be where they live, it might be their workplace, should you send your kids to school, should you go to work,' she said. Protesters are turning that fear into action, walking through city streets and standing in front of federal buildings to rail against the immigration crackdown. Local police have mobilized to keep the peace, but so have approximately 1,700 members of the National Guard who were deployed by President Donald Trump, not the state's governor. Last night, Trump ordered the deployment of another 2,000 National Guard members as well as a full Marine battalion based in Southern California. 'The level of escalation is completely unwarranted, uncalled for, and unprecedented — mobilizing the best in class branch of the US military against its own citizens,' California Gov. Gavin Newsom said. The LA protests, which began as a reaction to immigration raids, have sparked demonstrations around the country. Although about 150 demonstrators were arrested in San Francisco on Sunday, thousands more returned on Monday to march through the city's Civic Center and Mission neighborhoods. Similar protests took place in Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, New York, Pittsburgh, Seattle and Washington, DC. On Saturday, the nonviolent 50501 movement plans to hold 'No Kings' protests nationwide to encourage those in power to uphold the Constitution and to seek an end to executive overreach. Residents of Kyiv may have wanted to grab a few hours of sleep last night but finding such slumber was unlikely. Instead, the sky above Ukraine's capital filled with the sound of the air defense systems trying to stop incoming drones from causing more death and destruction. There were frequent explosions from the drones that got through the defenses and hours of blaring air raid sirens. Russia launched at least 315 drones at Ukraine overnight in what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described as 'one of the largest attacks on Kyiv.' The assault damaged high-rise buildings, homes and cars in seven districts of the capital and injured at least four people. Russian drones also struck the southern port city of Odesa, killing at least two people and damaging a maternity ward. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dismissed the entire panel of vaccine advisers that guides the CDC on the vaccine schedule and required coverage of immunizations. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, Kennedy said the group was plagued with conflicts of interest and will be replaced with new members. Each of the 17 members on the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices typically are experts in the field who served in four-year cycles. Removing the entire panel prematurely was unprecedented. 'I've never seen anything this damaging to public health happen in my lifetime,' one just-dismissed panel member said. 'I'm shocked. It's pretty brazen. This will fundamentally destabilize vaccination in America.' The State Department has ordered US diplomatic posts around the world to 'resume processing' Harvard University student and exchange visitor visas. The new guidance was announced after a judge halted President Trump's latest attempt to block international students from attending the Ivy League school. In recent months, the Trump administration has demanded that Harvard change its hiring and admission requirements, eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, and alter rules for on-campus protests. But the school has resisted those orders and filed a lawsuit claiming the government's actions violate the First Amendment. On Monday, an amicus brief was submitted to the court that featured the signatures of more than 12,000 Harvard alumni in support of their alma mater. The White House did not respond to CNN's request for comment on the brief. Justin Baldoni's lawsuit dismissedA judge has dismissed the actor/director's $400 million defamation lawsuit against Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, alleging that the Hollywood couple sought to 'destroy' his career. Whole Foods' distributor hackedUnited Natural Foods, Inc., one of America's largest publicly traded health food wholesalers, has taken some of its systems offline after a massive cyberattack. Highlights from the red carpetWhat theatrical garb did Broadway's biggest names wear to the 2025 Tony Awards? Here are 13 fabulous looks. Talk about motivation!Wanna be in an Adam Sandler movie? Baltimore Ravens running back Derrick Henry may get the chance — if he rushes for more than 2,000 yards this year. Seeking a 'craveable kick'?Chipotle says that's the goal of its new dip, which combines classic ranch with adobo pepper. The condiment will be available in restaurants next week and will be offered for a limited time. Bestselling author Frederick Forsyth dies at 86The thriller writer penned more than 25 books, including 'The Day of the Jackal,' which was adapted into a film starring Edward Fox in 1973, and more recently a TV series starring Eddie Redmayne. 686,061That's how many babies were born in Japan in 2024. It's the first time the number of newborns fell below 700,000 since record-keeping began in 1899. 'Ending a $5 million research study when it is 80% complete does not save $1 million, it wastes $4 million.' — National Institutes of Health staffers, in a letter to their boss, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, about what they see as the politicization of research and the destruction of scientific progress under the Trump administration. Check your local forecast here>>> Ready for the second coming?The film 'Dogma,' which was released in 1999, has returned to theaters. Director Kevin Smith says the movie about two fallen angels trying to get back into heaven plays better now than when it originally debuted.
Sky News
13 hours ago
- Health
- Sky News
Birth rates are plummeting worldwide - but it's not because people don't want kids anymore
Two in five people over 50 say they have not had as many children as they wanted - with economic issues, health concerns and fears about the state of the world among the main barriers. More than half said financial factors such as affordable housing, childcare options and job security were things that had limited, or would limit, their ability to grow their families. One in four said health issues were holding them back, while a fifth of respondents mentioned fears about global issues including climate change, wars and pandemics. The findings come from a new survey of over 14,000 people by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) - spanning 14 countries on five continents that are home to a third of the world's population. Birth rates have been declining across almost all regions of the world, while life expectancy continues to grow. There are concerns, from politicians and commentators like Elon Musk, that future generations of working age people will find it more difficult to economically support people of pension age as the ratio of workers to pensioners shifts. "Vast numbers of people are unable to create the families they want," said Dr Natalia Kanem, executive director of the UNFPA. "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." Differences around the world The survey was carried out in four European countries, four in Asia, three across Africa and three from the Americas. The countries were picked to try and represent "a wide variety of countries with different cultural contexts, fertility rates and policy approaches", according to the report's editor Dr Rebecca Zerzan. It includes, for example, the country with the lowest fertility rate in the world - South Korea. It also includes country with a birth rate among the highest in the world, which also happens to be the most populous country in its continent - Nigeria. The others, in order of population size, are India, the US, Indonesia, Brazil, Mexico, Germany, Thailand, South Africa, Italy, Morocco, Sweden and Hungary. In many cases there were significant differences in responses depending on which country people were reporting from. For example in Nigeria, a third of men (although only 21% of women) reported that they wanted to have four or more children. The numbers were similar in South Africa. However in South Korea, Thailand, Italy, Germany and Hungary, no more than 5% agreed. Fertility issues were twice as likely in the US (16% of respondents) as in neighbouring Mexico (8%). In South Korea, three in five respondents reported financial limitations as an obstacle. But in Sweden, where both men and women are entitled to 480 days of paid parental leave per child (which can also be transferred to grandparents), fewer than one in five said the same. Birth rates in Sweden are still among the lowest in the world, however. Dr Zerzan told Sky News that this shows that no one factor alone contributes to people feeling empowered to have children at the right time. "A third of people in Sweden say they think raising a child will take up too much time and energy. And a higher number of people there, compared with other countries, are also concerned about climate change and bringing a child in to an uncertain world." Unintended pregnancies vs not as many children as wanted A curious finding from the survey is that, while there has been much discussion around declining fertility rates, almost a third of people said they or their partner had experienced an unintended pregnancy. Globally, as people who become pregnant unintentionally often do so more than once, half of all pregnancies are unintended. In Morocco and South Africa, around half of people had experience of an unintended pregnancy. In the same two countries, more than half of people had experience of being unable to have a child at their preferred time. Overall, one in eight people had experienced both an unintended pregnancy and barriers to a desired child. "Everywhere we look, people are struggling to freely realise their reproductive aspirations," explains the report. People who had more children than they wanted, and people who had fewer, were present in countries with high and low fertility rates. "That indicates that barriers to achieving one's ideal family are ubiquitous." What can be done to help? The report says that the crisis does require political interventions, but warns against policies that often amount to short-term fixes, or those designed to coerce people to either use or not use contraception. "Whether the policies are coercive or not, there are real risks to treating fertility rates as a faucet to be turned on or off. Many of the countries that are today seeking to increase fertility have, within the last 40 years, sought to decrease birth rates. "For example, China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Thailand and Türkiye all reported in 1986 an intention to lower their national fertility rates through policy interventions, deeming their respective fertility rates at that time as 'too high'. By 2015, however, all five countries had switched to policies designed to boost fertility. "Today all five have total fertility rates below two children per woman."
Sky News
17 hours ago
- Health
- Sky News
Global birth rates crisis: People do still want to have children, but many can't - here's why
Two in five people over 50 say they have not had as many children as they wanted - with economic issues, health concerns and fears about the state of the world among the main barriers. More than half said financial factors such as affordable housing, childcare options and job security were things that had limited, or would limit, their ability to grow their families. One in four said health issues were holding them back, while a fifth of respondents mentioned fears about global issues including climate change, wars and pandemics. The findings come from a new survey of over 14,000 people by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) - spanning 14 countries on five continents that are home to a third of the world's population. Birth rates have been declining across almost all regions of the world, while life expectancy continues to grow. There are concerns, from politicians and commentators like Elon Musk, that future generations of working age people will find it more difficult to economically support people of pension age as the ratio of workers to pensioners shifts. "Vast numbers of people are unable to create the families they want," said Dr Natalia Kanem, executive director of the UNFPA. "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." Differences around the world The survey was carried out in four European countries, four in Asia, three across Africa and three from the Americas. The countries were picked to try and represent "a wide variety of countries with different cultural contexts, fertility rates and policy approaches", according to the report's editor Dr Rebecca Zerzan. It includes, for example, the country with the lowest fertility rate in the world - South Korea. It also includes country with a birth rate among the highest in the world, which also happens to be the most populous country in its continent - Nigeria. The others, in order of population size, are India, the US, Indonesia, Brazil, Mexico, Germany, Thailand, South Africa, Italy, Morocco, Sweden and Hungary. In many cases there were significant differences in responses depending on which country people were reporting from. For example in Nigeria, a third of men (although only 21% of women) reported that they wanted to have four or more children. The numbers were similar in South Africa. However in South Korea, Thailand, Italy, Germany and Hungary, no more than 5% agreed. Fertility issues were twice as likely in the US (16% of respondents) as in neighbouring Mexico (8%). In South Korea, three in five respondents reported financial limitations as an obstacle. But in Sweden, where both men and women are entitled to 480 days of paid parental leave per child (which can also be transferred to grandparents), fewer than one in five said the same. How paternity leave in the UK compares to other countries Birth rates in Sweden are still among the lowest in the world, however. Dr Zerzan told Sky News that this shows that no one factor alone contributes to people feeling empowered to have children at the right time. "A third of people in Sweden say they think raising a child will take up too much time and energy. And a higher number of people there, compared with other countries, are also concerned about climate change and bringing a child in to an uncertain world." Unintended pregnancies vs not as many children as wanted A curious finding from the survey is that, while there has been much discussion around declining fertility rates, almost a third of people said they or their partner had experienced an unintended pregnancy. Globally, as people who become pregnant unintentionally often do so more than once, half of all pregnancies are unintended. In Morocco and South Africa, around half of people had experience of an unintended pregnancy. In the same two countries, more than half of people had experience of being unable to have a child at their preferred time. Overall, one in eight people had experienced both an unintended pregnancy and barriers to a desired child. "Everywhere we look, people are struggling to freely realise their reproductive aspirations," explains the report. People who had more children than they wanted, and people who had fewer, were present in countries with high and low fertility rates. "That indicates that barriers to achieving one's ideal family are ubiquitous." What can be done to help? The report says that the crisis does require political interventions, but warns against policies that often amount to short-term fixes, or those designed to coerce people to either use or not use contraception. "Whether the policies are coercive or not, there are real risks to treating fertility rates as a faucet to be turned on or off. Many of the countries that are today seeking to increase fertility have, within the last 40 years, sought to decrease birth rates. "For example, China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Thailand and Türkiye all reported in 1986 an intention to lower their national fertility rates through policy interventions, deeming their respective fertility rates at that time as 'too high'. By 2015, however, all five countries had switched to policies designed to boost fertility. "Today all five have total fertility rates below two children per woman."
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
You say we need more babies, rightwingers? Come back to me after you've fought in the trenches of soft play
I absolutely cannot fathom the number of populist rightwing politicians and commentators who have looked at the smouldering mess that is the world currently and thought: 'I know what this situation demands – more toddlers.' Population-boosting discourse and policies have spread across Europe (Hungary, Poland, Greece, Italy and beyond), while in the US an unholy coalition of tech bros, religious conservatives, blowhard podcasters and the politicians who pander to them have gone loudly pronatalist. JD Vance used his first speech as vice-president to proclaim: 'I want more babies in the United States of America'; Elon Musk called declining birthrates 'a much bigger risk to civilisation than global warming'; and Trump is considering various procreation-incentivising policies, including a $5,000 'baby bonus', which I believe is what a carton of eggs – hen, not human – costs in the US these days. Now Nigel Farage has hopped on the breeding bandwagon (tick that off your 'What fresh hell?' bingo card). Reform, he says, wants to go 'much further to encourage people to have children'. I needed to do something other than grind my teeth to stumps about this, so I've been brainstorming an entrance test for the role of publicly boring on about birth rates. Because having numerous children yourself (Vance lets the side down with a mere three; Musk tops the leaderboard with 14) doesn't qualify you to harangue others to do the same; you need to have actually walked the multiple-children walk – done the stuff parents without a flotilla of staff or a tradwife spouse have to do. Here are a few suggested 'canon' events politicians should experience before they're allowed to pontificate about our patriotic duty to breed. Your internal organs either feel like, or actually are, falling out; you can't sit down or lift anything safely (not sure how we simulate this for the bros, but it's 2025 – technology can surely assist). Unfortunately, the writhing newborn with its gums clamped to your nipple hasn't got the memo, and who's this erupting into the room, exuding the on-the-brink energy of someone whose world recently imploded? It's 12kg of inexplicably naked toddler barrelling towards a plug socket while intimating an urgent need to urinate, an open bottle of Calpol (where did they get that?) casually slung in one hand. Your move – oh, hang on, you can't move. Just regular, awful bedtimes: different, elaborate, multi-phase sleep rituals more complex than a Korean skincare regime for each child. A colicky baby. A toddler who fights sleep with the raw power of a heavyweight boxer. A child who waits until 11pm when you're on your very last nerve to ask the big questions about death. Standard stuff. You're hungover, sick or sleep-deprived (joke – you're always sleep-deprived) and desperate to crawl into a dark hole, but no, it's 9am, everyone's been up for four hours and you're in an echoing hangar with lighting, music and general ambience inspired by Guantánamo, having paid £10 per person for the privilege. One kid is attached to your leg, refusing to have fun without you; one has vanished entirely; another is headed straight into the ball pit, where they promptly have a screaming nervous breakdown. You'll need to retrieve them, knowing there's at least one rogue poo in there somewhere (worst lucky dip ever). How bad can it be, you say to yourself? Then the sweating and the flashbacks start. It's worse than 'Nam in Clarks and there's no way out but through. The cottage has vertiginously slippery stairs and surfaces full of low-hanging fragile knick-knacks, plus inadequate curtains, so everyone wakes at 4am. With no Freeview or phone reception, you can't outsource the early shift to Bluey. The intersection of allergy, intolerance and awkwardness is such that there is no food everyone will eat. It's day one and you're already praying for the sweet release of death. Guts in violent turmoil, you're physically unable to move more than a metre from your lavatory while being repeatedly called upon to clean up – probably even catch in your cupped hands! – your sick children's effluvia. Tell me again how more kids are the answer to the world's ills? Emma Beddington is a Guardian columnist
Daily Mail
26-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Farage pledges tax breaks for married couples to encourage them to have bigger families... and help Britain reverse the 'existential crisis' of plummeting birth rates
Nigel Farage will today pledge tax breaks for married couples to encourage people to have bigger families. In a major speech, the Reform UK leader will argue Britain faces an 'existential crisis' because of plummeting birth rates and that the tax system needs overhauling to incentivise marriage and help couples afford more children. Boosting birth rates would create a bigger homegrown workforce, he is expected to argue, helping end reliance on foreign labour. Scrapping the two-child benefit cap would 'just be the start' under a Reform government, he is expected to add. In a bid to outflank Sir Keir Starmer by appealing to Left-leaning Labour voters, he will pledge to fully reinstate the winter fuel allowance for pensioners. But the Mail can reveal he will also announce plans for a transferable marriage tax allowance. This would exempt one spouse from paying tax on the first £25,000 of their income. The other would enjoy a tax-free income of £20,000, the level at which the party has promised to raise the threshold for the basic rate. At present, workers pay the 20 per cent rate of income tax on everything between £12,570 and £50,270. According to a draft of the speech seen by the Mail, Mr Farage is expected to say: 'The collapsing birth rate in the UK, now well below the rates needed, is an existential crisis for our country.' In the speech, to be delivered in Westminster, Mr Farage will argue this would help end a benefits-dependency culture and encourage more people back into work. He acknowledges not all changes may be affordable straight away. He will taunt Tories by insisting TV debates at the next general election should only be between him and Sir Keir because Reform is now the unofficial opposition. According to a draft of the speech seen by the Mail, he is expected to say: 'We need to encourage people to have families and ensure they feel financially able to have them. The collapsing birth rate in the UK, now well below the rates needed, is an existential crisis for our country. The Tories and Labour have sought to solve it with open borders. 'A Reform government will cut net immigration to zero and do everything in its power to encourage British people who are able and want kids to have them. 'Scrapping the two-child [benefit] cap is just the start. We will, as soon as finances allow, introduce a UK 25 per cent transferable marriage tax allowance.' He will brand the current benefits system 'perverse' because it means some can work part-time 16 hours a week but earn less than if they claimed benefits. But the Tories last night attacked the plans. Writing in this newspaper, shadow chancellor Mel Stride says: 'Reform has shown up with fantasy economics.' Estimates suggest raising the basic rate of income tax threshold to £20,000 could cost more than £50billion. Reform insiders insist they could pay for the plans by scrapping Net Zero, deporting illegal asylum seekers, closing migrant hotels and slashing bureaucracy, raising up to £62billion. Ellie Reeves, chairman of the Labour Party, said: 'Nigel Farage, a private-educated stockbroker and career politician, has only ever cared about his own self-interest and personal ambition, never about what is good for working people in this country.' In October, figures showed women in England and Wales had an average of 1.44 children between 2022 and 2023, the lowest rate on record.
