Why are white people all around the world not having kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - so some of the answers seem to make it an issue about wealth - i.e. wealthy and developed countries aren't having kids (see japan).

If that is the case, then why are russians and slavic countries (and balkans) have very low birth rates when they are a lot poorer than western europe, for sure.

An example - turkey is richer than bulgaria, but turkey has a tfr at or above replacement level but bulgaria is at 1.5

So I don't believe it being something about strictly wealth/development and opportunity costs.

Russia, and slavic/balkan countries aren't all "white." Indo-Europeans came from the Middle East and China.

[Anonymous]

This is a documentary about Bulgaria's abandoned children:

And you wonder why the country has a low birth rate? Extreme poverty and the highest number of physically and mentally impaired children growing up in institutes in the whole of Europe.

OP, take a geography or current affairs class and stop worrying about white people having babies.

[Anonymous]

I really like kids, but I've never had the desire to have more than 1 or 2 of them. they're expensive and time-consuming, and I find that by having only one, I can still maintain some vestige of my own interests and personality.

I always suspect that some people who have a large number of kids are just not very bright, or aren't organized enough to figure out the whole birth control thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a documentary about Bulgaria's abandoned children:

And you wonder why the country has a low birth rate? Extreme poverty and the highest number of physically and mentally impaired children growing up in institutes in the whole of Europe.

OP, take a geography or current affairs class and stop worrying about white people having babies.

"extreme poverty" should mean african birth rates match bulgaria's.

they don't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not white people. It's rich people- children are incredibly expensive in the rich world with a huge opportunity cost.

This. And rich women are sick of doing more with the kids than their rich husbands. We very deliberately stopped at 2 because DH was little help.

turkey is richer than many of its balkan neighbors yet has a markedly higher birth rate.

It's Turkey's Muslim population that is responsible

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People here are talking about births as if they are a choice, which is a very first world thing to say. In most of the countries at the top of the list, women are married early and do not have access to birth control. There is no choice involved. The question is not why wealthy women have so few children -- it's why poor women have so many. And the answer is that they have no way to stop it.

No, actually, the question IS why is the birthrate dropping below replacement levels in "white" and/or prosperous countries. That's the topic.

[Anonymous]

What a depressing thread. I guess I just can't relate. I am white, educated, and in the upper income brackets and I love kids. I always wanted a big family. I have two and I'd have more if DH were on board. I WOH full time and I get a lot of satisfaction from my profession. My kids though- even though they're hard and life is chaotic sometimes, the good times are like a little glimpse of Heaven. They're just golden.

Having kids is worse than divorce or death? Ridiculous. I agree if you don't like kids, don't have them. It wouldn't be fair to the kids or to the people who didn't want to be parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because there are other opportunities now. Getting married and having children is one of many options.

Won't work for the planet as a whole.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because there are other opportunities now. Getting married and having children is one of many options.

Won't work for the planet as a whole.

Plenty of other demographic groups worldwide are picking up the slack. Earth isn't in any danger of stagnating population overall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What a depressing thread. I guess I just can't relate. I am white, educated, and in the upper income brackets and I love kids. I always wanted a big family. I have two and I'd have more if DH were on board. I WOH full time and I get a lot of satisfaction from my profession. My kids though- even though they're hard and life is chaotic sometimes, the good times are like a little glimpse of Heaven. They're just golden.

Having kids is worse than divorce or death? Ridiculous. I agree if you don't like kids, don't have them. It wouldn't be fair to the kids or to the people who didn't want to be parents.

Thanks. I think we've established pretty handily that people who don't want kids are not, in fact, having them.

[Anonymous]

I'll play. We both enjoy working, have no maternity leave, daycare is outrageous and we can't afford for one of us to stay home.

And multiply that scenario times every middle class family in America. If I could pop out a 5 year old I would happily do so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a documentary about Bulgaria's abandoned children:

And you wonder why the country has a low birth rate? Extreme poverty and the highest number of physically and mentally impaired children growing up in institutes in the whole of Europe.

OP, take a geography or current affairs class and stop worrying about white people having babies.

"extreme poverty" should mean african birth rates match bulgaria's.

they don't.

Poverty is multi-faceted with many dimensions not to mention political stability:
http://data.worldbank.org/indicator#topic-11

You can't give just one vague descriptor and have it apply across the board the same way in very country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not white people. It's rich people- children are incredibly expensive in the rich world with a huge opportunity cost.

This. And rich women are sick of doing more with the kids than their rich husbands. We very deliberately stopped at 2 because DH was little help.

turkey is richer than many of its balkan neighbors yet has a markedly higher birth rate.

Maybe because Muslim women are discouraged from using birth control?

There is more to the story of Turkey's birth rate. It is only high because the Kurds have a very high birth rate. The non-Kurdish Turks have a lower than replacement birthrate of 1.5.
http://www.mercatornet.com/Demography/view/15817

[Anonymous]

Birthrates are dropping worldwide. Things are reaching epidemic proportions in Japan with the population expected to drop by a million peole a year. The Japanese aren't white but they are a rich country with important lessons for us all. Germany also has very low fertility and the government is throwing the kitchen sink at women to get them to have more kids. Nothing is working. You can't run a country with lots of old people and very few new entrants to the workforce. Italy also has very low birthrates.

I would love to have more kids. Unfortunately it seem in the US only the very rich can afford lots of kids. Me and DH have good incomes and respectable careers but the costs of having children is crippling. It's sad that ordinary people in this day and age can't afford kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not white people. It's rich people- children are incredibly expensive in the rich world with a huge opportunity cost.

Especially this.

Affluent women in the richest countries have absolute control over their fertility now, and no career choices are closed to them. Why get bogged down having a bunch of babies and then permanently side-tracking a promising career, when you don't need to?

Also? Parenting is frequently a drag and "we" are finally being honest about this dirty little secret. Ask your (white) grandmother in 1952 if being a Mom is all that, and you're sure to get a rosy, scripted response that "children are a blessing" blah blah. Ask me and my close friends and we'll give it to you straight: there are some indescribable upsides and a whole lot of serious and lifelong negative consequences to becoming a Mom.

Repeated quality of life surveys in the US reaffirm that "spending time parenting" and "having kids" are the very top negative events for most people -- worse than divorce, losing a job, death of certain loved ones and more.

Modern, professional women of child-bearing age are dealing with more information and many more good options than their predecessors. Who can blame them for taking a pass, as a demographic?

I love having kids. I had them both late in life and both my husband and I work FT.

Having said that, I know of plenty of couples who simply didn't want kids, which worked for them. no added expenses, no worries, money to travel

bottom line, however, is this - If you aren't into parenting, have your tubes tied and get on with your life. You can't be selfish to raise kids. And you have to be content in knowing that it's no longer all about you.