If financial incentives aren't enough to help the "declining" birthrate, what will?

[CupcakeTheDestroyer]

The Wallstreet Journal recently published an article about how women in the UK are still choosing not to have children despite the many social programs that would help women to start a family comfortably (Paid maternity leave, free healthcare, free public transportation, basically anything a person could need to successfully raise a child while keeping their job). It essentially boiled down to a social choice. The women who didn't want children would not be convinced to have them based on these financial incentives. The women who did want children would continue to have children despite any financial lack. The women who were on the fence decided to build a life for themselves with a good-paying job, a comfortable home, a space ideal for starting a family and choosing not to as they like their stable financial lifestyle.

It's a very interesting comparison to the US, where instead of providing financial incentives they're simply stripping away women's ability to choose not to have a child at all.

It also highlights just how much the idea of a declining birth rate centers around white-focused countries as the countries with the highest birth rates that go well above the replacement rate are countries like Niger, Angola, Mali, Chad, and The Central African Republic. So what do you think is the primary difference that is causing this uproar, and if this is truly an issue then how can it be solved?

[Syntosi]

Its not actually a single cause but to oversimplify it, its capitalisms fault. More specifically, its because people can now choose to start a family and they are not feeling like it. This is a privileged position to be in, as we have not stopped to have sex and realistically, can't but we have been able to decide not to have kids. In contrast, people did not use to have a choice, meaning if you had sex (which everyone did) then you would inevitably have kids.

So with contraceptives and sexual education we are now in a position where people actually need to start consider if they want a family or not. So why is it capitalisms fault? Simply put, because of capitalism we have changed the priority of young adults from starting a family to establishing a good career and becoming rich.

If you spend all day and all your energy on working for a better career then you will not have the time or energy to pursue a loving relationship nor feel like you have the time and energy to put to the side so that you can raise children. As such, simply giving them a cash incentive to start a family will not give them the time and energy that they lack.

It is also becoming increasingly clear that young adults dont actually know how to raise kids. Arguably, we never did, but when you have a choice it starts to matter if you feel ready for the responsibility or not. I propose that having a class in school dedicated to parenting as well as less work and guaranteed housing would go a very long way to mentally put young adults in a position where they can stop and consider starting a family.

[Astarlessnightsky]

The question is, is this enough financial support to even support the current lifestyle?

We in germany have these basic things as well, but me and my wife could barely afford our current life with a child. Not counting moving into a bigger apartment, or the additional costs.

Just with her paid maternity leave money and my regular salary we could barely afford to live in our rather small and rather cheap apartment.

At least we don't have to deal with hospital bills as well.

Additionaly you have worries about the future you have to put into consideration which may deter you from having a child as well.

[Agape93]

Make it actually worth while. Financial incentives don't mean shit when carrying it, having it and raising it are exceedingly expensive and life altering or life ruining.

[DrPepper12]

It's the Democrats! It's all part of their evil plan so they can continue raping and eating babies!! The border is wide open so that they can incentivize higher birth rates among undesirables to outbreed God-fearing natural Americans who love and serve the Lord Jesus! It's the only way they can maintain power is by outbreeding real Americans! They continue to spew their lies that the declining birth rate is due to a lack of reliable health care, affordable daycare and elder care, Darwinian capitalism & massive inequality, rampant addiction, abominable education systems, domestic violence, intergenerational cyclical poverty, lack of affordable housing and God knows how many other fictions they try to sell through there propaganda arms in academia, media, law, and entertainment!! They must be stopped before it's too late!!!

[BoobMan]

The people who are responding to financial incentives in order to have kids are NOT the people you want reproducing in your society.

My sense is that people freaked out WAAAAAYYYY too much about "overpopulation" and now they're freaking out WAAAAYYYYY too much about "low birth rates." People are going to do what they're going to do. It's all good.

[Maybe_Maybe_not]

In a totally depressing way, I would mention the reason for a recent baby boom:
World War II

Forgive me, okay?

[Maybe_Maybe_not]

No, seriously, if there is an issue with babies, the best way seems to be collective hope. Hope for what though? Sorry, depressing take again 😅

[Squatting_Slav]

I think men and women are getting fed up with the world, politics, finances, social setting etc. People don't want to bring up a child in this ever growing chaos is my understanding of it all