Why don't people want more children? A new global report says this is the wrong problem
Why don't people have more children? According to the new global report, what we should actually ask is why so many people feel they can’t.
People generally think that low fertility rates are due to people not wanting to have children at all, or more than one or two, but a report released by the United Nations Population Fund (UNGH) on Tuesday said that this is not the whole situation.
“A large number of people cannot create the family they want,” the World News press release said.
The lack of choice, she said, is “a real fertility crisis” and the answer is to respond to what people need: paid family leave, affordable fertility care and supportive partners. ”
The UNFPA report includes YouGov's polls. About one in five of the breeding adults surveyed in 14 different countries said they would not be able to have the number of children they want, and most said their children might have fewer than they want, or not at all.
The most common barrier is the economic barrier, with 39% reporting that financial restrictions can affect or affect their ability to achieve the required household size.
Other significant obstacles include lack of partner support, low quality sexual and reproductive healthcare, lack of access to affordable childcare, and pessimism about the future.
The poll surveyed 14,256 adults aged 18 to 88 from 14 countries, including the United States, South Korea, Italy and India between November 15 and December 5, 2024. It doesn't mention room for error, but says most of the data is represented nationwide.
Although no survey of Canada was conducted, the authors noted that the country's sample represents one-third of the global population, with both income and fertility rates accounting for the global population.
Canadians also face obstacles
Previous Canadian statistics show similar trends, and in the 2022 report of people aged 15 to 49, comparable issues (such as affordability) may affect their fertility intentions.
37% of those surveyed said they do not think they can have children in the next three years.
“Many Canadians face structural constraints that prevent them from realizing their desire to give birth,” said Rania Tfaily, an associate professor at Carlton University who studies socio-demographics.
This topic has recently emerged in federal election events, when conservative leader Pierre Poilievre mentioned that too many young people can’t afford to buy a house before the “biological clock” is exhausted.
But despite his disturbing wording, his supporters say he highlighted a real concern. According to Statistics Canada, 32% of Canadians aged 20 to 29 in 2022 do not think they can get the right housing to build a family within the next three years.
Watch |Why don't Canadians have more children?
According to Statistics Canada, Canada's fertility rate is 1.26 children for the second consecutive year. It joins the ranks of “lowest education countries” including South Korea, Spain and Japan.
Of course, it’s not just a lack of options to slow down the pace – and children today are also less considered preferable.
Strohschein said, for example, Statistics Canada data always reported between 1990 and 2006 that Canadian women had an average of more than two children. However, the latest estimates starting in 2022 show that the total number of children required is 1.5, which is even lower with the survey of young people.
“At the same time, women tend to have fewer children than they actually want, even if they want fewer children in general,” she said.
Reproductive institutions two-way adoption
The UNFPA report emphasizes that reproductive rights are two-way, as are the global fertility crisis.
“This is a crisis for the reproductive agency – individuals have free, informed and unrestricted choices for everything from sex to using contraceptives to starting a family,” the report said.
For example, one-third of respondents in the YouGov poll said they or their partner experienced an unexpected pregnancy, and one-fifth said they felt the pressure to be reluctant to have a baby.
This could have unintended consequences for fertility, especially when policymakers try to control reproductive autonomy, the report notes. For example, “The abortion ban can voluntarily or involuntarily abandon breeding,” the report explains.
In Roev. After Wade was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, Texas effectively banned abortions. CBC's Ellen Mauro travels to the state to see how people navigate within restrictions and prepare to make them worse.
A recent study of U.S. medical claims found Roev overturned in the U.S. Supreme Court. After Wade, fallopian tube sterilization and vasectomy increased in the United States among participants aged 19 to 26.
If we want people to reach the size of their families we need, we need to get rid of fertility as a means of controlling women's bodies, Strohschein said.
Incentives don't work, but what?
Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump said he wants babies to prosper and proposed incentives to try to convince more people to have children, including so-called baby bonuses.
According to the Associated Press, he announced his plan to create tax-appropriate investment accounts for U.S.-born babies over the next four years and start at $1,000.
However, as the Population Company Report notes, most of these incentives do not work and sometimes have the opposite effect. It's because they “didn't create the full scope of people saying there needs to be a family,” it said.
So, what can help people have more children – assuming that's what they want?
“Ensure affordable and high-quality child care for everyone, as well as economic policies that reduce financial stress for people, such as better worker benefits and more stable jobs,” said Tfaily of Carleton University.
Strohschein also has similar suggestions, such as making it easier for mothers to return to work after giving birth, and affordable childcare.
But, “We have not succeeded in Canada with either of these two policy levers.”
“It’s interesting whether our national parenting program can change that in the next few years.”
