by Andrew Glover, Quillette
Fertility decline is not merely a demographic curiosity—it is a structural challenge with civilisational implications. So why are people so reluctant to talk about it?
We are in the throes of a global crisis, which touches every nation, threatens our economic prosperity, and if left unaddressed, could bring about the demise of the human species. Yet we have no agencies dedicated to responding to it, have invested no major funding into researching it, and almost never talk about it in the political sphere. This is the situation we face with regard to our declining fertility.
Birth rates across the developed world have fallen well below replacement levels and are not projected to rise or rebound in any meaningful way in the future. This means ageing societies, mounting fiscal strain, and, for many countries, shrinking populations.
Despite these enormous social and economic stakes, few institutions are talking about the fertility collapse. In the West, the governance infrastructure to respond to it simply doesn’t exist.
This contrasts starkly with how we have responded to other long-term threats. Climate change, for example, is discussed at every level of governance, from local councils to global treaties. It has dedicated agencies, major funding streams, and entire industries devoted to mitigating its effects. Climate concerns occupy a central place in media, politics, and academia. Fertility decline, by comparison, has attracted little sustained attention and few institutions dedicate any time or money at all to solving it.