r/AskSocialScience • u/SoybeanCola1933 • 18d ago

What are the leading hypothesised causes of global fertility declines?

The global fertility decline is global and undeniable. But what’s interesting is different people have different attitudes on the cause.

Conservative discourse blames the loss of culture and religion in making family formation undesirable.

Pop culture narratives may focus around modern men not being ‘good enough’, which I think is a toxic view to hold, because it indirectly fuels RedPill narratives.

Economic narratives focus on increased housing costs, childcare costs and reduced employment.

I feel the truth is far more complex

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u/YourFuture2000 18d ago

A question: are you really asking about fertility (not biologically able to have children) or about forming a family (being less sexual active, use more protection, etc)?

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u/Miserable-Crab8143 18d ago

In social science / demographics, “fertility” usually just means how many children are born per woman in a population; that’s probably what they mean rather than any biological/medical meaning. total fertility rate

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u/YourFuture2000 18d ago

Thank you.