World fertility rates in 'unprecedented decline', UN says

Education, class anxiety, and cost of children

• Several comments dispute “school fees” as a key driver, noting most countries offer free public schooling, but others point out exceptions (e.g., Gulf states for non-citizens) and the rising perceived need for “elite” education.
• There’s a recurring theme of parents fearing their kids will be economically exploited or downwardly mobile, which makes having children feel unethical or unwise.

Car seats, housing, and “a thousand cuts”

• A long subthread debates car-seat regulations: some cite research showing a small but real fertility impact (mainly on third births), others say the effect is minuscule compared to housing, daycare and education costs.
• Broader point: many small frictions (car seats, smaller apartments, stricter child-safety rules, both parents working) cumulatively make larger families logistically and financially harder.

Collapse vs. adjustment: is low fertility a crisis?

• One camp calls it a demographic “collapse,” pointing to very low TFRs (e.g., South Korea) and the difficulty of reversing multi‑generation declines.
• Others see it as a necessary correction after unsustainable growth; they distinguish “shrinking” from “collapse” and argue stability, not endless growth, should be the goal.

Pensions, intergenerational equity, and work

• Many stress that modern pensions and investments still rely on future workers; people without children effectively rely on others’ children.
• Proposals include linking retirement benefits to number and success of one’s children, which critics say would punish the childless and infertile and incentivize perverse behavior.
• There’s concern that fewer workers will mean either harsher old age or political pressure to shift even more resources toward retirees at the expense of children.

Women’s rights, work, and choice

• Strong thread that expanded education and rights for women is the clearest correlate of falling fertility: when women can choose, many have fewer or no children.
• Counter‑argument is that many women still want more kids than they have but are constrained by work demands, late partnering, high living costs, and lack of childcare or family support.

Lifestyle substitutes, pets, and climate anxiety

• Some speculate indoor dogs (and similar “care outlets”) partially substitute for children; several parents say kids eliminate any desire for pets.
• Climate and “living conditions” fears are cited as explicit reasons to remain childfree, with some arguing a shrinking population is environmentally beneficial and should be planned for.