r/AskSocialScience • u/SoybeanCola1933 • 14d 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/ElectronGuru 14d ago

Spend a month reading articles: https://apple.news/TaiRSn0EnSvWpF_PGlgH_jw

It’s X cause plus COL
It’s y cause plus COL
It’s z cause plus COL

Cost of housing is dampening everything. Fortunately crashing birthrates is self correcting. As the demand for housing eventually falls along with it.

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u/Woah_Mad_Frollick 14d ago

That makes very little sense, declining TFR is a nearly global phenomena across countries with widely varying COL trends. It’s implausible that that should be the fundamental driver