Money and not infertility, the UN report says: why the birth rates fall | Demographic news

Millions of people around the world are unable to have the number of children they want, and financial constraints, the lack of quality health care and gender inequalities are some of the obstacles to reproductive choices, according to a UN report.

The Fund for the United Nations (UNFPA) populations unveiled its report on the state of the world’s population on Tuesday, warning that an increasing number of people are refused freedom to start families due to high costs, wars and the lack of appropriate partners and not because they reject parenthood.

About 40% of respondents cited economic obstacles – such as children’s education costs, employment insecurity and expensive housing – as the main reason for having fewer children than they would like, according to the report based on an online survey by the United Nations and Yougov.

Fertility rates have dropped at less than 2.1 births per woman – the threshold necessary for the stability of the population without immigration – in more than half of all the countries that participated in the survey.

On the other hand, life expectancy continues to grow in almost all regions of the world, according to the survey carried out in 14 countries which house a third of the world’s population.

Right’s nationalist governments, especially in the United States and Hungary, are increasingly hanging on the drop in fertility rates on rejection of parenting.

But the report of the 2025 state population revealed that most people wanted children. The survey results have indicated that the world is not faced with a crisis in lowering birth rate but of a crisis of the breeding agency.

How was the study carried out?

The UNFPA questioned 14,000 people from four countries in Europe, four in Asia, three in Africa and three in the Americas.

The study examined a mixture of low, medium and high income countries and those with low and high fertility rates.

They were chosen to try to represent “a wide variety of countries with different cultural contexts, fertility rate and political approaches”, according to the editor -in -chief of the report, Rebecca Zerzan.

South Korea, which is included in the study, has the lowest fertility rate in the world. The report also examined Nigeria, which has one of the highest birth rate in the world.

The other countries included, in the order of the size of the population, are India, the United States, Indonesia, Brazil, Mexico, Germany, Thailand, South Africa, Italy, Morocco, Sweden and Hungary.

The survey is a pilot for research in 50 countries later this year.

Regarding age groups in countries, the size of samples in the initial survey is too small to draw conclusions.

But some conclusions are clear.

What were the main conclusions of the report?

According to the UNFPA, 39% of people said the financial limitations prevented them from having a child.

Insecurity and fear of employment of the future – from climate change to war – were cited by 21% and 19% of respondents, respectively, for reasons to avoid reproduction.

Elsewhere, 13% of women and 8% of men highlighted the unequal division of domestic work as a factor to have fewer children than desired.

Only 12% of people cited infertility or difficulties in conceiving of not having the number of children they wanted.

This figure was higher in countries like Thailand (19%), the United States (16%) and South Africa (15%).

In many cases, there were significant differences in the responses according to the declaration of the countries.

But for Natalia Kanem, Executive Director of UNFPA, a universal conclusion of the report is that “fertility rates go down largely because many feel unable to create the families they want”.

In South Korea, three out of five respondents declared financial limitations as an obstacle to children.

He was only 19% in Sweden, where men and women are entitled to 480 days of parental leave paid by child, who can also be transferred to grandparents.

However, birth rate rates in Sweden are among the lowest in the world.

Zerzan stressed that a factor alone does not take into account the drop in fertility rates.

“I fully agree with this,” said Arkadiusz Wisniowski, professor of social statistics and demography at the University of Manchester.

“The decision to have a child is complex. Yes, it is a matter of money. But it is also time and access to the good type of child care,” he told Al Jazeera.

What role can immigration play?

When deaths become births, this is an indication that fertility rates decrease. “This is not currently true worldwide,” said Wisniowski. “But it is true for many countries of the world, especially richer nations.”

“And some governments must sail in the reality of the decline in birth rate rates against immigration. Obviously, immigrants can fill gaps in the labor market, and there is evidence that contributes to economic growth,” he said.

“But it’s not a panacea.”

What can governments do about it?

“We can clearly see the problem and the solution,” noted the UNFPA report. “The answer lies in the breeding agency, the ability of a person to make free and informed choices on sex, contraception and the foundation of a family – if, when and with whom they want.”

The UNFPA warns against simplistic and coercive responses to the decline in birth rates, such as babies or fertility targets, which are often ineffective and violating human rights.

“We also see that when people believe that their reproductive choices are directed, when policies are even perceived as too coercive, people react and that they are less likely to have children,” said Kanem.

Instead, the United Nations organization urged governments to extend choices by removing parenting barriers identified by their populations.

Its recommended actions included making parenting more affordable through investments in housing, decent work, paid parental leave and access to complete reproductive health services.

“The recommendations (in the report) are all good,” said Wisniowski. “They would all allow people to try to achieve their family -related aspirations. But these complete policies will come with a cost. ”

For years, labor economists have warned that the drop in fertility is a threat to future prosperity because it increases budgetary pressures due to aging populations – when the number of retirees in relation to workers increases.

“Governments may need to impose workers more or take more debts to respond to the reality of fewer young people,” noted Wisniowski. “But fertility is not something that you can easily tinker. We are faced with considerable uncertainty.”