It’s hard to believe that the world is experiencing a population “implosion” rather than “explosion,” but it is happening. The notion of falling fertility runs counter to the onslaught of public messages we’ve all received over the years.
The question becomes: How do we encourage marriage and child bearing? It’s up to each one of us to examine our lives and the lives of our children and grandchildren. What are we teaching/modeling and what are we prioritizing? Cristina Cevallos shares with us what happens when nations forget to multiply.
With gratitude for children,
Wendy Wixom, President
United Families International
Vanishing Generations:
The Crisis Few are Talking About
By Cristina Cevallos
What happens to a country that loses 96 percent of its population in just three generations? That is the future of South Korea, right now. With a 0.7 fertility rate, South Korea will drop from every 100 children born to 34 being born; the next generation will drop to 12 children, then to just four children being born by the third generation. (Demographers consider a generation to be 25 years.) The startling fact is South Korea is not an anomaly; most of the countries of the world (two-thirds to be exact) are experiencing sub-replacement fertility rates. Even more startling, South Korea had a fertility rate of 1.4 in the year 2013. The U.S. fertility rate in 2023 was 1.62 and there is little to indicate an upward trajectory is in the future.
Analysts warn this trend could lead to a “demographic winter,” as the majority of countries fall below replacement level (2.1 children per woman), bringing severe socio-economic consequences. Economist and high-profile businessman, Eric Weinstein, speaking about fertility decline, recently stated, “This is not cute, it’s not funny, it’s a terrible tragedy, and I don’t think that I over speak when I call it a reproductive holocaust.”
Countries around the world continue to attempt to reverse this trend through various pro-natalist measures: family credits, tax exemptions for mothers, housing benefits for newlyweds, extended maternity and paternity leave, childcare subsidies, support for student parents, and other social welfare initiatives. However, as Human Life International argues, few of these policies have proven truly effective. Fertility rates continue to decline across these regions with little sign of reversal.
Causes of Fertility Decline
Interestingly, the number of children women hope to have has remained consistent over the last four to five decades. On average, Americans’ ideal number of children is 2.7; yet their desired number of children is not being realized – for a host of reasons. Some studies point to two primary factors: marriage and money – the inability to find a suitable partner to marry and start a family, combined with a rising age at first marriage (thus a reduction in female fertility and time to have a larger family) and the perception of not being able to afford children.
Governments may be able to make having a family easier through subsidies, childcare, work-life balance programs, but these programs often “don’t change the math” on having more children. Public policy alone cannot make people value having children more than a career, new cars and clothes, or vacations. Dominant cultural norms must be factored in. This becomes evident when we observe that the wealthiest nations often have the lowest fertility rates, while the most food-insecure countries tend to have the highest. More attention must be paid to the cultural messages, importance of parenthood, and the perceived value and benefits of having children.
Young people are often caught up in feminist-driven “careerism,” casual relationships and deliberately choose childlessness (sterilizing themselves or even killing their babies). The separation of marriage from procreation is evident in the widespread delay of marriage, cohabitation, postponement of parenthood, and the normalization of no-fault divorce. Fewer marriages, and later marriages, naturally lead to fewer children. Personal satisfaction has become a central goal for too many people as they increasingly focus on temporal concerns, without a sense of obligation or responsibility to future generations. This outlook also fosters a shift in attitudes toward human sexuality, emphasizing personal pleasure, romance, and gratification.
Other influential factors include ideologies promoting childlessness for the “well-being of the planet,” radical feminism, and population control campaigns, many of which coerce populations around the world through the promotion of contraception, sterilization, and abortion.
The Problem of Sex-Selective Abortions
One lesser discussed, yet alarming, reason is sex-selective abortion. According to research by Yichu Li, this practice is often used to achieve gender balance, where families abort fetuses of the same sex as existing children in order to have a mix of boys and girls, without the need to have a third child.
As American demographer Nicholas Eberstadt notes, the widespread availability of ultrasound technology in countries like India and China has facilitated sex-selective abortions and even cases of female infanticide. In their desperation for sons, countless couples have sacrificed their daughters. Today, more than 10 percent of all female fetuses are aborted. Because only women can bear children, this gender imbalance has further exacerbated declining fertility rates. It is estimated that some 40 million men will be unable to find wives in the coming years, contributing not only to fertility decline, but to rising rates of sex trafficking.
Perceiving the Value of Children
Who is still having children and why? This very inquiry inspired Dr. Catherine Pakaluk to write the acclaimed book Hannah’s Children, in which she interviews around fifty college-educated women with five or more children, asking how they came to have such large families. They came from all walks of life, some from large families, others with only one sibling; some wealthy, others not; working in a wide range of professions, alongside spouses in similarly diverse careers.
Pakaluk argues that low birth rates are more a demand problem than a supply one. Their stories help explain why pro-natalist policies have failed: you cannot pay people enough to take on the life-altering costs of raising children if they do not already want children. The women she interviewed chose to have more children because they genuinely valued them more than other things they could have pursued with their time, energy, and resources.
The real “cost” of motherhood was what they had to give up, sleep, hobbies, freedom, professional achievements, comforts, plans, social status, income, etc. But the reason for those sacrifices was far more meaningful than what they left behind. Their motivations were often rooted in deep faith in God, love for their spouses, and love for their children. They saw their kids as blessings, their contribution to the world, and their life’s purpose. As well, many expressed that motherhood saved them from selfishness, immaturity, loneliness, and aimlessness. Thus, Pakaluk emphasizes: if we want to see more children born in the future, we need more women and men who share such convictions.
Another book that draws a similar conclusion is Promises I Can Keep, by sociologists Kathryn Edin and Maria Kefalas, which sought to understand why urban poor women in the U.S. are more likely to have children. The authors conducted in-depth interviews with 162 women from Philadelphia’s urban poor communities. Although most of them yearned to have economic stability and to get married, they didn’t see their children as an unwanted burden but their primary source of identity and meaning, an opportunity to prove their worth.
A Needed Shift in Perspective
So, we need a cultural shift from a purely individualistic worldview to one that recognizes that taking responsibility for others’ well-being can also bring us deep happiness. This is a biological reality, in fact, a study found that having children is linked to a sizable increase in happiness for both men and women. We must also renew and strengthen our view of marriage, procreation, and family life as meaningful sacrifices for the good of others. While some think the joys of having children are unique to mothers, the broader benefits are shared by society as a whole.
This does not mean that policies and laws are ineffective. On the contrary, they are essential allies in the fight against declining fertility trends. For instance, United Families International was involved in supporting the UN 2025 Family Policy & Population Research Forum. The forum was formally organized by the NGO Committee on the Family, NY, and showcased the research of scholars from Lebanon, China, and the United States. The researchers gathered to examine what makes a policy effective and to assess the success of fertility-boosting initiatives in different national contexts. It was concluded that women are having fewer children than they want to have, citing reasons like financial insecurity, lack of childcare, inadequate parental leave, and poor work-life balance.
While it is true that poverty, lack of decent work, housing, healthcare, and family-life balance do affect the timing of children, we should see these as causes of postponement, not of total rejection of parenthood. Even if the state were to eliminate all material burdens, what ultimately matters is for women to want to have children, and prioritize their lives to do so. Let’s help people see that babies are not a burden, but a blessing. The alternative is a continuation of vanishing generations and the possible collapse of society as we know it.
Cristina Cevallos is a Peruvian Law professional. She is passionate about issues related to cultural heritage and the defense of traditional values, especially the sanctity of life and religious freedom. She has been part of different volunteer and entrepreneurship programs internationally and loves doing projects with children, going to the beach, and learning about art history. Her goal is to travel the world helping people to find true happiness.