US birthrate hits all-time low

What's strange is that this is happening all around the world. Compared to Japan and South Korea this is nothing. But they're responding in the same way. By rejecting immigrants, rising nationalism, rising austerity and crushing workers more than ever, violent reactions against women's rights, etc. Sanseito in Japan thinks it can fix the issue with one measly welfare program and then turn Japan fully isolationist again while cutting labor rights even more. Even if they really believe in this idea of the ethnic domestic population suddenly having more babies, they refuse to support any economic platform that would make it possible. The reality is that oligarchs are selling everyone fake ideas while they prepare the Earth for a massive depopulation event.

I'm sure the white middle class will just explode with children what with all massive destruction of their security and future work-life balance

Most everyday couples in the US (especially in cities) can barely hack it on two wages with no kids. I think a lot of young people have chosen not to procreate out of necessity because the financial burden is too significant. The majority who do have kids are making it work, but are struggling even with decent salaries.

You'll get a $1000 dollars. Now get fucking!

I just went down a Reddit rabbit hole about day care costs after reading this thread.

It was 3 years old, and most posters said around $2K a month per kid. That is just mind blowing to me. You can get an apartment for that.

Then people talked about, even if you decide to be a stay at home parent because it is cheaper, there are opportunity costs to think of. You are missing out on 5-7 years of social security credits, 401k contributions, work experience, etc.

I just don’t see the math adding up for most Americans.

R3 - yes - I'm so tired of people asking why this is happening. Baby boomers pulled up the ladder behind them - now university will put you in debt for the rest of your life, the ability to buy a decent house is out of reach for even upper middle class earners in many metros, childcare is outrageously expensive, groceries are expensive.

Lastly- the workplace has NOT tried to accommodate working parents like it should.

To bring a child into this world that you cannot afford is insanity. But Republicans and Boomers are doing GREAT!

Along with the huge expense is also the fact that a lot of women today (and some men) don't want to have children unless they feel they can be good parents. Many men and women today also don't feel that having children is as important a part of their identity as it was for earlier generations.

It's just sex. Our dads had to get married to get it regularly. That resulted in a 'family' of 3 or 4 offspring . Now sex is a few clicks away on a phone. Why buy the cow, when... ?

Also bi-sexuality. I think the Under-45s are getting off discreetly with same sex.

Also birth control. Just pop a pill.

I think it's a good thing. We shouldn't have to grow more humans to fund social security, insurance plans, etc. Find another way.

Cities have redistributed population from the country, but the birthrate suffered longterm because there are no practical limits on exploitation in urban environments. Plus educated city people tend to expect the world to get more rational, kind and easier over time. That was a big driver for boomers, making an easier life for their kids. But that dream has obviously eroded over the decades and jobs are being eliminated at record pace. So if the world can’t become fairer and more pleasant over time, if it can’t even hang onto service jobs, it must manage with fewer people over time, at least until the fascists ramp up the religious indoctrination again.

Elon will make it his mission to make up for the downturn.

Gross.

The only reason the US grew the past few years was immigration. Now it will begin to shrink because of the low birth rate. That will eventually doom it in terms of staying a world power. It’s inevitable unless the attitude towards immigration changes.

I read an article that more young people are getting sterilized - especially in red states

GOOD

Do you think blue states are having more children than red states? Maybe that will help the blue states in the longer term with increasing population at the expense of red states.

More seats in the House?

Latinos are having the most children,

US population 2024: 340.1 million

US population 1995: 266.6 million

Good Lord....how did we survive!??

CNBC Wed, Mar 26 2025: "Over the next decade, advances in artificial intelligence will mean that humans will no longer be needed “for most things” in the world, says Bill Gates."

R13 A birthrate collapse is disastrous. Why do so many people think we are overpopulating?

[quote]GOOD

Agreed

This was how the Handmaid’s Tale started.

1) Collapsing birth rates

2) Political strife

3) it led to a religious fundamentalist group to overtake the government and outlaw gay people and restrict women’s rights.

Thank god that can’t happen!

[quote]Do you think blue states are having more children than red states?

no, as expected, blue states have longer more stabile relationships, but fewer kids

Oh, do you think that maybe those kids will become blue State kind of voters though r21?

How are people supposed to afford kids and pay off student loans while paying high rent or for a mortgage? Not to mention how do you have time to actually spend time with your kids when jobs that might pay you enough to afford them expect you to be working all the time?

We lived comfortably on my parents’ middle class jobs in the 1970s and we had lots of time together but I don’t think that could happen today

The issue is not the birthrate itself, but WHO is having those kids.

While responsible people are only having 1-2 children, fundie nutbags and magats are breeding like rabbits - see: Quiverfull movement.

What they'll just outbreed us until they take control of the country. It's the old rethugs Southern Strategy and Project 2025 on steroids, or rather NOT on birth control.

“While responsible people are only having 1-2 children, fundie nutbags and magats are breeding like rabbits - see: Quiverfull movement.”

I think when we get back in charge, we need more than policies - we need acts of intervention to prevent what you’ve rightly warned us about, r24.

Why do we have to continuously grow population instead of improving the lives and opportunities of those already here?

Immigration is not the panacea - it just keeps feeding the existing machine of exploitation and drives more competition for expensive resources and creates resentment.

The economy the last 30+ years has benefited primarily the 1%, whereas most people's wages have stagnated while prices for everything have increased.

Economists always talk about immigration being good for the economy, but if the economy only benefits the 1% - and that's a fact, that's undeniable - then immigration is now supporting the economy to make rich people even wealthier while the rest of us stagnate or fight for what's left over.

We had some of the lowest levels of immigration during the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s - while we had full employment and high wages. That's not a coincidence. Companies had to pay good wages to attract and keep workers, which has completely gone out the window the past 30 years.

Immigration is not the answer - it's just a feel-good support statement for those who have immigrated. There is another way - I would like this country to invest more into its own citizens than to process and take care of more immigrants and asylum seekers.

It's creating class conflict and resentment among native middle and working classes - rightfully so. We can't just keep taking in more people because of lower birth rates. We have to find a new way - not just doing the same shit over and over again, while only a few benefit.

R26, what do you propose then? Forcing women to have more kids against their will?

What creates "class conflict" is right-wingers telling uneducated whites to blame all their problems on immigrants, even ones who live in areas with little immigration

R27 - oh give it a fucking rest. Forcing women to have more kids? Who said that? What's wrong with giving opportunities and training to people living here? The ones who have foregone higher education due to cost? Why are we importing specialization-trained IT workers from India who have bogus schools set up to give them a 9 month degree/certificate in a specific application or software? Why can't we do that?

And no - class conflict is not only ginned up by right-wingers, it's an output of people struggling to get by - even those WITH college degrees and working.

Your knee-jerk false blaming of people's feelings on immigration on some false Boogeyman is serving your own interests, which is that you want to defend immigrants.

That's fine - no one is directly blaming immigrants. I'm saying the system can't keep doing this while everyone else is struggling. The US is not alone in this - UK, France and many other countries are experiencing the same problems and resentments.

If we are heading to an AI existence, what’s the point of having kids?

R29 - that's the other thing - everyone is talking about how AI will take over 40% of jobs. From tech to law firms - these are high-paying jobs. AI can write legal briefs faster and better than first and second year corporate attorneys.

Couple that with the absurd criminalization of parents for leaving their kids alone at any point of time up until 14. A woman in Georgia was recently arrested because her 11 year old walked a quarter or half mile to a gas station to get candy or a soft drink by himself. What?

Then there's the obvious - the burden of child rearing still rests on women, who also need to work full-time AND take care of a household? There have been progress in men stepping up, but it's still not in any way equal.

Everything said in this thread is obvious to 99% of people and yet nothing changes. Same situation in other countries - Japan, S. Korea, Italy - all suffering low birth rates without addressing the root problems.

So, if AI takes over humans are.... baby machines? This is sounding like The Matrix.

R28, the reason people are struggling is because conservatives think helping people is "socialism"

You guys scream about how we shouldn't take care of immigrants, we should take care of "our own"...but you want to cut programs that help the poor

I am half in love with easeful death.

R32 - all you do is put words in people's mouths - first you say we want to force women to have babies, now you say 'we' want cut services for the poor.

No one has said that ever - and it really undercuts any arguments when you falsely accuse people with statements like this.

I've never voted for a Republican in over 35 years of voting.

I agree that Republicans shout socialism for every helpful program that doesn't benefit the rich. That's true. But we need new ideas - just saying import more people doesn't resolve the housing crisis, affordability crisis or any other problem.

Just saying "we need to increase the birthrate" without saying how isn't doing shit for anyone. Other countries have tried incentives to increase births and they don't work. Immigrants are the only thing that will stop the population from collapsing, because nothing you say or do will make most women want to have a bunch of kids

R34 types in MAGA font.

We see you

R36 - no retort - you just attack because you don't have a reply. I said I've never voted Republican and it's true.

How does more immigrants solve anything? Being dubious of immigration as some sort of resolution does not make me MAGA.

How would more immigration increase our birth rates among those already here? It won't. And it doesn't address the real issues that are preventing people from starting families - almost all are economic issues or policy issues that have to be addressed.

This is the result of banning abortion. Then people become more careful with random hook ups. The men are more likely to use condoms and women use the pill more regurlarly. Conservatives shot themselves in the foot.

What advantages are there to having kids? The government keeps making life harder and harder for everyone except the rich elites. Sorry, they won't have enough peeps to run their factories and shit and to serve them. Boo hoo.

R37, the real reason fewer people are starting families is because they don't want to.

Whining will not change that.

R40 - so now I'm whining?

So you want to keep Americans poor and force immigrants to give birth, keeping them in an endless cycle of poverty?

See what I did there? I accused you of saying or thinking something that you never said. Feels good, huh?

And don't whine about it - we all know that's what you want - to keep immigrants, particularly immigrant women, poor and shackled to kids they can barely feed so you keep your population numbers up. That's what you want. Admit it.

[quote]Whining will not change that.

Whingeing, perhaps?

a lot of young people don't want to bring children into the world in a country that is aiding and abetting srael and supplying them with free weaponry

I am worried that the loss of jobs to AI will impact women the most, since they hold so many desk jobs. The trades will be unaffected; that means men will continue to earn money while women will have less opportunities. Then women will get married to survive financially, and then we're back in the 1950s.