Fewer women are having children, and for the most part that's a good thing.
, the Pill was responsible for at least 40 percent of the post-1960s drop in fertility rates in the United States.
Contraception, education, and work are closely linked: educated women are more likely to know about and use contraception, and contraceptives give women the option to continue their educations and careers instead of raising multiple children.. Before 1900, around a quarter of all children died before they turned one, and only half of all children born lived to adulthood.
The development of modern medicine drastically changed the picture for children. Vaccines for debilitating, even deadly diseases like polio and measles are readily available, and mothers around the world have easier access to pre- and post-natal care. In 1990, one out of every 11 children around the world. By 2019, as healthcare became more accessible around the world, that number had dropped by more than half, to one out of every 27 children.
In most wealthy countries, and especially in urban areas, says Hartnett, economics are the main reason women are having fewer children. “What we’re seeing in wealthy countries is that birth rates tend to be below what people say they want,” Hartnett says. “It’s so difficult to have kids. There’s no support.” In a sense, she says, the economics of having children has the opposite effect of education—it takes the choice to have children away from women who might otherwise want to have them.
The most crucial thing to think about for the future, Hartnett says, is that structures are set up so people can have the lives they want, whether that means two kids or no kids or an entire baseball team. “How can governments help people avoid having children when they don’t want them and help them have children when they do?” Hartnett asks. “These are really important questions. There’s almost nothing more important than that.
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