This might be one reason Zog cranked up illegal immigration to 11 over the last two years - they need more warm bodies to buy product
@DW2 "Economic struggles" are not the crux of the problem for why people are not having children. Feminism is the reason why there are low birth rates. That does tie into economic issues, such depressing wages across the board. A man could more easily support a family if he did not have his own earning potential/buying power knee-capped by inflating the workforce without any real added value. Given that many women do make-work bullshit jobs, having them out of the workforce would be good.
@DW2 People can claim that if we just "fix the economic issues" that birth rates will come back up. But we also hear the claim that birth rates are down because people in developed countries have less children. That message contradicts "the economy being bad lowers the birth rate." It cannot be both. Feminism causes both the economic issues by depressing wages as well as causing the birth rates to fall, and the correlation of economics and birth rates disguises the true causes.
@DW2 A lot of dirt poor countries have high birth rates. Why are their poor economic conditions not lowering their birth rates? Maybe because economics does not fully answer the question of poor birth rates, or really at all.
Yes, being able to afford a family helps, but so many people could make it work if they really wanted to. How many couples are strapping themselves with unnecessary debt? That new car? That Ivy League degree? An oversized house? None of these are needed for a family.
@DW2 I always get curious about how many people actually understand their own financial decisions when they claim they cannot afford children. So many people make the same normie financial mistakes that it is no wonder they are broke. You can afford to live a good life raising a family so long as you are willing to forgo "keeping up with the Jones's."
Newsflash: the Jones's are able to live like that because they are overextended on debt. And they are not happy in the end either.