US EditionThe World's Two Demographic Problems
MULTIPLE COUNTRIES INCLUDING THE UNITED STATES, GERMANY, AND CANADA, JUL 18 – Declining birth rates are linked to economic instability, high living costs, and changing social values, with fertility dropping below replacement in many countries, experts say.
- On July 11, Javier Gallegos reported that birthrates are declining in the West, contributing to shrinking populations and demographic challenges.
- Growing career ambitions among women have led to high childcare costs and rising urban living expenses, creating obstacles to family formation.
- Across regions, disparities emerge as the African continent maintains high fertility rates while North America and Western Europe experience declines, closing in on the 2.1 replacement rate.
- Policymakers now face, as the government’s response in the coming years will be critical in addressing demographic shifts and securing future stability, especially with structural barriers like maternal health deserts and Medicaid cuts exacerbating outcomes.
- Long-Term projections show these trends in fertility and livebirths will reconfigure global power, while Dr. Natalia V. Bhattacharjee warns that they will necessitate societal reorganization.
19 Articles
19 Articles
Falling birth rate, aging society: Austria is slipping into a demographic crisis. The consequences are shortage of skilled workers, exploding pension costs and a social system at the limit. Why are we getting fewer and fewer children and what does that mean for our future? That's what our readers say.
The world's two demographic problems
The "two problems" referred to in the title of this essay are faced by the crowded countries of the global south and of the western nations in Europe and North America. While birthrates are declining in the West to the points where the population size has begun to decline. Demographers have identified 2.1 children per woman as the replacement rate; anything above that results in increasing the size of the population while rates below that mean d…
In addition to the societal stakes, in particular the prioritisation of work by women, the reasons for the decline would also be political. Gérard-François Dumont, demographer and president of the journal Population et Avenir, explains "a loss of confidence in family policy". - Decline in the birth rate in France: "There is a loss of confidence in family policy" (Topics of society).
In Austria, the birth rate fell again in 2024. Women had an average of 1.31 children that year. This is well below the so-called "replacement level" of 2.10 children per woman – the number needed to maintain the population without immigration. The most child-bearing group are migrants from Muslim countries like Afghanistan, Syria, and Iraq: they had an average of 3.30 children last year. This is almost three times as many as Austrian women, who …
Those who see population as a number miss the point, according to political demographer Jennifer Scuba. The point in the demographic crisis is prosperity and support from birth to death.
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