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Title: Why Is Fertility So Low in High Income Countries?

Link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/07/11/0755...

Fertility rates have fallen to historically low levels [PDF] in virtually all
high-income countries due to a fundamental reordering of adult priorities
rather than economic factors, according to a new National Bureau of Economic
Research study. Economists Melissa Schettini Kearney and Phillip B. Levine
analyzed cohort data and found rising childlessness at all observed ages
alongside falling completed fertility rates. Total fertility rates have
dropped below replacement level in nearly all OECD countries, with many
sustaining rates below 1.5. Some East Asian countries including South Korea,
Singapore, and China now have fertility rates at or below one child per
woman. The researchers concluded that period-based explanations focused on
short-term income or price changes cannot explain the widespread decline.
Instead, evidence points to "shifting priorities" involving changing norms,
evolving economic opportunities, and broader social and cultural forces that
have diminished parenthood's role in adult lives.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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