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I’m chasing my own fertility journey at present — you can generally tell what I’m chasing based on what I’m currently blogging about, and here’s something on fertility journeys, as well as something on jelly being placed on my scrotum — so when I see stuff about babies and growth rates and all that, my ears perk up a little. I always hate how these Census and population figure discussions default to “future workforce,” as if the only justification for having a child is that someday they can occupy a cubicle or office. In reality, we all know one of the primary justifications for having a child is Instagram likes. I mean, let’s be honest.
Here’s where the USA is since about 1790:
As noted in The New York Times morning newsletter:
For one thing, polls show that many Americans want more children than they are having, as The Times’s Claire Cain Miller has noted. But the slow-growing incomes and a shortage of good child care options have led some people to decide that they cannot afford to have as many children as they would like. The decline in the birthrate, in other words, is partly a reflection of American society’s failure to support families.
