One factor with falling birth rates I see is not that married couples are necessarily having too few children (though family sizes overall are down), it is the lack of marriages/pairing overall going on that is at the head of the issue. Too many people not forming long term relationships means that there are going to be overall less children as a result.
I am aware of single mothers and all that, but that's a symptom of another issue as well (and certainly not making up for lack of births).
Why are there less pairings/marriages overall? It is because men see that prospect as a bad deal and want no part of a deal that could destroy them in numerous ways. It is a worse deal due to the government giving women an easy way out to destroy the marriage for as little as "I don't feel like it," as well as the women themselves choosing to forego the best years they should be giving their husband and instead expecting their future husband to wait until she is in her 30s.
@houseoftolstoy you need to be more direct, a better deal could mean a lot of things, if you leave it to libeal men and women then a better deal would be free money for women to have more kids and we all know how that works out. Just fucking say we need patriarchy to restore birth rates
@37712 >if you leave it to libeal men and women then a better deal would be free money for women to have more kids and we all know how that works out.
I said give MEN a better deal, not women. Free money for women is not giving men a better deal. I figured that was clear enough, but if you want me to go as far as saying we should go back to full blown patriarchy, I agree. I figured that saying "men need to be given a better deal" is a great way to open the door to conversation.
So if you want to increase birth rates, give men a better deal. Men getting a better deal will mean men are more likely to accept the idea of marriage again, and you will have a good number more of children per couple.
Sure, some couples will still opt to have only 1 or 2 kids, but 1 or 2 is better than 0 when it comes to improving the overall numbers. And many married couples will want more than just 1 or 2 (if they get started early enough).