Fruchtbarkeitsrate für England und Wales fällt auf einen neuen Rekordtief

In 2023 40% of births involved at least one parent being born outside the UK.

Curious whether that has gone up too.

I desperately want children but have no idea how I would afford them. I have barely £200 left over each month after rent, bills, tax etc. I want my children to be able to go to fun experiences, sports clubs, I don’t want them to feel like they’re struggling as we penny pinch to afford food every month.

So successive governments took the hardest and most expensive thing most people will ever do and then made even harder and even more expensive.

How can anyone possibly be surprised that this is the result?

The government could fix this shit by introducing tax incentives, fair maternity and paternity leave and affordable childcare.

But they won’t do that. And then wonder why people don’t want babies. Then the cycle will begin again.

We really need to take notes from countries such as Norway.

The crux of the issue:

– Raising children in a relatively luxury environment is expensive and wages have stagnated for over a decade while housing costs have ballooned

– In the Modern age, having children can be much less appealing than travelling + free time.

How do you solve this without insane levels of migration? I would argue cheap housing, tax incentives and more child care benefits for parents.

I’m shocked! Shocked, I tell you!

This is what happens when the government has to appease the largest voter base. The 50+ y.o. demand their triple locked pensions and fuel allowances, otherwise they’ll vote en masse to remove the party in power.

The government have limited options to increase revenue, so anything funding the younger generations has to be cut or suppressed to compensate.

If you’re under 40 and don’t vote, this is on you.

It’s expensive. Couples work and barely struggle to give themselves a comfortable life, let alone a kid.

I try to be positive, hopeful, and guard against cynicism, but the world feels increasingly hostile and dystopian atm.

It’s not just money- more and more women simply don’t want to have kids. I think some are realising that they actually don’t want them when they really think about it; it’s just societal pressures. Also there’s a dating crisis and more women also don’t want to have children with the wrong partner; we’re more financially self-sufficient than our mothers and grandmothers were to have that freedom of choice.

I’m honestly fucking sick of these birthrate/fertility articles because we’ve been hearing it for 5-10 years now and not even the goddamn Labour government is willing to step in and help younger people get a leg up. I’m at an age now where me and my friends are desperate for kids but we’re all struggling – despite solid professions.

Between stagnant wages, cripping house prices, rising amenities prices the choice is be childless and almost comfortable, or have a kid and give them a worse life than you had.

Forgetting the financials of it, which is a massive part, we have had a huge culture shift.
We have done great things like women being more open to being in the workforce, and having fulfilling careers and education, however this has also had an effect on birthrates. We have made great strides in reducing teen pregnancy, but again, lower birth rates. We have become more accepting of same sex marriages so people can be open about their sexuality from puberty instead of going into loveless marriages. Lower birth rates. We are allowing of abortion for non medical purposes. Lower birth rates. We have the morning after pill, and hormonal and IUD contraceptives now. Lower birth rates.

This isn’t even to mention that people don’t mingle as much. The fact that workplaces are less relaxed now, so there’s a lower propensity for people to just get to know each other. We have stopped drinking as much, and there’s no more third places, places away from work and outside the home for people to meet so we’ve reduced our social lubricant and stopped going to places where we can interact with others.

Is it any wonder? Too much work and no play apparently makes you boring and not have babies

Honestly maybe I’m in the minority but I really don’t think this is such a terrible thing.

And I won’t be doing my part to help raise it either. The only kids I’ll be „bringing into the world“ and raising, are kittens or puppies.

Why would I want to bring up another human being in this country, just so they will have to work twice as hard as me to achieve the same things and buy the same groceries?

In fact, I’d be doing that poor soul a favour by not bringing them into this all work and no play country.

Don’t worry, we have plenty of immigrants to boost population with the help of our government’s track record

Also, now people understand that they dont have to have kids to have a full life. Before, having kids was just something you did because of the „normal next stage of life.“ Now, women know they can be more than incubators, be barefoot, pregnant in the kitchen. They can be free, have their own bank accounts, dreams and even divorce. Now people actually THINK whether they wanna be parents or not.