Why do not people want more children? This is the wrong question, says a new global report

Why not people The presence of more children? What we should really ask, according to a new global report, is why many people feel that they cannot.

It is often assumed that low fertility rates are due to the fact that people simply do not want to have children, or more children or two, but a a report On Tuesday, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) says this is not the full picture.

Dr. Natalia Caeim, Executive Director of UFPA, said in A. press release.

She said: “The lack of choice” is the real fertility crisis, and the answer lies in responding to what people say they need: paid family leave, fertility care at reasonable prices and supportive partners. “

The UNFPA report included voting from Yougov. About one in five adults of childbearing age in 14 different countries said they will not be able to have the number of children who want it, as most of them say they will likely be less than they want, or nothing at all.

It was the most economical barriers, as 39 percent reported that affected financial restrictions or would affect her ability to achieve the size of her required family.

Other important barriers included the lack of support for partner, low -quality sexual and reproductive health care, lack of access to services such as affordable children’s care, and pessimism around the future.

The poll poll 14256 of adults between the ages of 18 and 88 from 14 countries including the United States, South Korea, Italy and India between November 15 and December 5, 2024. He did not mention the margin of error, but he said that most data was represented at the national level.

While Canada has not been surveyed, the authors note that the sample of countries represent a third of the world’s population with a mixture of income and fertility rates.

Canadians face barriers as well

former Canada Statistics data shows a similar trendWith people between the ages of 15 and 49 in 2022 that similar issues, such as the ability to withstand costs, can affect fertility intentions.

37 percent of those who were included in the poll said they do not believe that they can afford to have the costs of having a child in the next three years.

“Many Canadians are facing structural restrictions that prevent them from achieving their fertility aspirations,” said Rania Tifle, a co -professor at the University of Carlton, who is studying social democracy.

The topic recently appeared during the Federal Electoral Campaign Matthew Conservative leader Pierre Pollyfer He stated that many young people cannot buy homes before they are running out of their “biological hours.”

But while formulating it NerveHis supporters said that he was highly worried. In 2022, 32 percent of Canadians, between the ages of 20 and 29, did not believe that they will get access to the appropriate housing for a family starting in the next three years, according to what it said. Canada statistics.

Watch | Why do you not have Canadians more children?:

Canada recorded its lowest fertility rate for the second year in a row in 2023, according to it Canada statistics Data, at 1.26 children born for every woman. She joined the ranks of “low accuracy countries”, including South Korea, Spain and Japan.

Of course, it is not just a shortage of choice that leads to a decrease in a decrease – as fewer children are also seen as more desirable today, as Lisa Strchyin, sociology professor at Alberta University.

Strateine ​​said that Canadian statistics data, for example, was constantly reported between 1990 and 2006 that Canadian women are proud to have more than two children, on average. but The latest estimates from 2022 I now suggest that the required number of children in general is 1.5, and this decreases with the survey of younger people.

“At the same time, this is the condition in which women tend to have fewer children than they really want – even because they want less children in general,” she said.

Reproductive Agency goes in both directions

the Unfpa report It confirms that reproductive rights are going in both directions, as well as the global fertility crisis.

The report says: “It is a crisis in the reproductive agency – in the ability of individuals to make their free, informed and unrestricted options about everything from sex to contraceptives to the family’s start,” the report says.

One in three of the respondents in the Yougov poll said they or their partner had suffered an unintended pregnancy, for example, and nearly one of every five said they feel pressure on having children when they do not want it.

The report indicated that this could have unintended consequences for the fertility rate, especially when policy makers try to control reproductive independence. For example, “the ban on miscarriage can lead to individuals voluntarily or involuntarily reproduction,” the report explained.

A A recent study looking for medical claims for us I found that the trumpet sterilization and the analog cells increased in the United States after the participants between the ages of 19 and 26 yet. The US Supreme Court canceled ROE V. Wade.

Strachin said that if we want people to achieve the required family size, we need to stay away from fertility treatment as a way to control the bodies of women.

Incentives do not work, but what are you doing?

At the same time, the American President Donald Trump says he wants a child’s boomHe has incentives to try to persuade more people to have children, including the so -called children’s rewards.

This week, he announced his plan to create tax investment accounts for children born in the United States over the next four years, and they started each of $ 1,000, Associated Press.

However, as the UNFPA report notes, most incentives like this do not work, and sometimes they may have an opposite effect. This is because they “do not create a full set of enabling conditions that people say they need to have families,” he says.

So what helps people have more children – assuming that this is what they want?

“It guarantees the care of children at reasonable and high -quality prices for all,” said TFALY University, as well as economic policies that can reduce the financial tension of people, such as the benefits of the best workers and the most stable jobs.

Strohschein had similar suggestions, such as facilitating the return of mothers to work after having a child, as well as caring for children at reasonable prices.

However, “We are still not successful in Canada with any of these political wheels.”

“It will be interesting to know if our national children’s care program can change this in the coming years.”