Older Adults Outnumber Children in 11 States

Changing Population Structure

• Commenters note that many countries now have “rhombus” age structures, not pyramids; US graphs clearly show the baby boom bulge aging into retirement and a secondary bulge around 1990.
• Some Middle Eastern states show extreme male-heavy cohorts due to imported male labor.
• Several of the listed states (e.g., West Virginia, Maine, Vermont) are seen as cases of young people leaving and those remaining having fewer children.

Housing, Zoning, and Generational Conflict

• One camp blames high housing costs and restrictive zoning—perpetuated by older homeowners—for suppressing family formation near good jobs.
• Others push back: zoning’s roots predate boomers, and Gen X/Millennials have also failed to change it.
• Disagreement over whether “greedy elites,” general cost of living, or personal preferences are the main brake on fertility.

Economics vs. Culture in Fertility

• Some argue “nobody can afford anything,” citing housing, childcare, healthcare, and education.
• Others counter that poor countries and very rich households often have higher birthrates, suggesting culture, status, and norms (e.g., patriarchy, community support, views on motherhood) matter more than income alone.
• Several people say parenthood is a “bad deal” in a society that offers many solitary comforts and where having kids is low-status.

Immigration, Race, and Population Replacement

• One thread links low native fertility to calls for more immigration, prompting explicit debate over whether this is about labor needs or maintaining certain ethnic majorities.
• Some commenters voice anxiety about cultural change; others reject racial framing and stress that immigration is an obvious way to offset aging.

Birth Control, Technology, and “Demographic Collapse”

• A recurring argument is that widespread, reliable contraception (especially the pill) is the core driver of fertility decline, by decoupling sex from reproduction.
• Others highlight women’s education, infant-mortality improvements, and cost disease in childrearing as equally or more important.
• Views on “demographic collapse” range from existential crisis (unsustainable old-age dependency ratios) to “overblown” or even potentially beneficial population contraction.

Policy Ideas and Fairness

• Proposals include: taxing the childless more, expanding childcare and family subsidies, or even restricting access to birth control.
• Critics say it’s unjust to pressure people into decades of unwanted parenthood to prop up pensions; supporters argue non-parents “free ride” on others’ children who will support the system.
• Many note that raising multiple kids with two working parents, no extended family, and expensive childcare is simply exhausting, regardless of ideology.