Europa weniger totale Geburten als wir, obwohl 100 m mehr Menschen haben

the more higher education, the fewer births.

edit: the higher the religiousity, the more births.
those two factors combined explain the observed data reasonably well

It’s because of historically less immigration from regions with higher fertility rates. And even if mothers come from regions with low fertility rates (like Europe or East Asia), they still add to the total number of births, so higher immigration in general will always increase „all births“ (it’s obviously a bit different if we’re talking about fertility **rates**). It’s the same reason why fertility rates are higher in the EU than in East Asia: the latter countries have had even less immigration.

Higher historical religiosity in the US has probably helped too, but keep in mind that religious people are probably gonna be less productive, so the true benefits from their higher fertility rates really come during the transition from being religious to non-religious, when the additional born people are fully channeled into economic life. And the US has also become less religious over time, so even if secularization there has plateaued or is decreasing slightly in this decade, it’s probably just another blip in long-term trends.

Source?

Also shouldn’t say Europe if you’re talking about the EU (i assume), they’re not the same thing.

Idiocracy it’s a documentary

The US has more immigrants and religious communities with high birth rates.

I don’t know about USA, but in Poland there is growing problem of people and companies buying out real estate as an investment to either rent or even just hold it to sell later. 

Someone like me, who earns 4500 pln net (~1000 euro) as a Delphi programmer have no way to buy a flat or home, so how could I even think about having kids? 

Fitting Europe feels pessimistic while USA feels optimistic in general, in people’s mindset

This goes with the trend of more educated people having less kids

This has less to do with „bad economy“ and more to do with multiple converging factors.

First economic:

* Children used to be an asset in agrarian economy. Having children was existential for family survival
* Modern capitalism + urbanization flips the script. Children are not assets. Education, housing, health care, all extra costs. Urban life makes large family financially punishing.
* Pensions and welfare makes children no longer your necessary survival.

Societal – social media + aspiration.

* Everywhere we are constantly brainwashed with success of other peeps that we’re trying to emulate. Success, money, freedom, travel, self-optimization. Parenthood is the exact opposite of that.
* Being a parent can come into clash with having a successful career
* We want to prolong adolescence, it can only be done if parenthood is delayed.
* Children are no longer „destiny“ but just one of many lifestyles to choose from.

The hypothetical solutions, brace yourselves, none of these will seem ideal and some are outright dystopian and extreme:

* (The worst possible solution) Cancel the welfare and pensions. Force old people into streets, force young people to breed to avoid the same fate. (I personally hope we never resort to that but I wouldn’t be surprised if some late stage corporationist authoritarian regime implements it)
* Censorship on social media, control over the pro-success capitalist narrative, a new type of propaganda that supports family life. (Honestly, I cannot imagine this to be a likely scenario. It would require too much of a societal change. Might be possible in very authoritarian countries like North Korea)
* Technological advancements in artificial breeding programs, children bred in pods, establishment of orphanages for these parentless children. Dystopian as hell, but so far the most likely solution in the western world where personal freedoms want to be maintained.
* Some form of AI and robotic automation that will alleviate the labor shortages.

I’m suprised the fertility rate is still that high

I don’t think this is a big concern. There are too many people on this planet, we have a major housing crisis in big cities across Europe and many countries are at peak population. We have less space than the US, but are twice as many people, where should they all live?

I live in the Netherlands and we are definitely over-populated, that’s why people can’t afford housing, and that’s why they don’t have more kids.

And this is why Lagarde is reporting Europe needs immigrants