The reason birthrates are falling is the raise of divorce rates

PurplePillDebate-ModTeam · 2026-01-06T01:20:07+00:00

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toasterchild · 2026-01-05T15:10:50+00:00

Divorce rate have been falling in the US for some time but so has the birth rate. So many married couples now are deciding not to have kids or only have one. Is there any proof it's because of divorce?

Teen births have dropped off a cliff the last decade, but is it because there is better birth control now or because teens are having much less sex overall?

AtomicMonkeyTheFirst · 2026-01-05T15:09:44+00:00

Throughout history the primary purpose of having children was economic; if you didnt have a family to and got old or got sick you starved, it was the simple.

Now in modern wealthy countries we don't have that pressure so children have become an expensive lifestyle accessory that a lot of people don't want. They'd prefer to have a nice house or car or expensive holidays to children.

Birth rates are falling because this is the first time im history when the majority of people can afford not to have children.

Perfect-Reading-761 · 2026-01-05T15:37:44+00:00

Birthrates are falling because women have realised that we do not need to follow a specific lifescript and we can have a choice in how we live now.

GridReXX · 2026-01-05T16:14:27+00:00

No. It’s knowledge and agency. The more knowledge and agency a woman has, the less likely she is to want the amount of kids men seem to want.

For example, most women who want kids probably naturally desire 2-4 kids with a partner she mutually loves, trusts, and respects.

And it seems like most men who want kids want considerably more and the mutual love, trust, and respect isn’t even a major part of his ideal.

For example, in areas and time periods where women have less knowledge (exposure) and agency (personal finances), she’s having 10 pregnancies, 3 miscarriages, 1 still birth, and a festering fistula. This nets out to ~6 kids. Many of the pregnancies a result of coercion or worse.

We can see a proxy for how this plays out by looking at the data of female education level compared to fertility rate: higher fertility rates correlate with lower female education levels.

When women are adequately knowledgeable, they don’t tend to choose having the gaggle of kids that men who want kids seem to want. That’s not me saying women don’t want kids. It’s just my belief women who want kids have never wanted as many kids as men who want kids. The historical highs we used to see were never likely women’s ideal preference.

I think there’s some truth that many men who want kids want kids in the way that kids want puppies. They like the idea of having a “legacy” and the ego drip of it all but don’t want to commit to the day-to-day caretaking of these kids they claim to want so bad.

Axis_Control · 2026-01-05T15:02:59+00:00

The reason birth rates are falling is because people likely don't own their own home yet and can't afford kids yet or are waiting to have kids later. In general women want to have less kids due to the cost of childcare and preschool and not wanting to be out of work for too long.

ThatBitchA · 2026-01-05T15:13:24+00:00

It couldn't possibly be the cost of living and/or raising a children. Do you know the cost of daycare? The cost of housing? The cost of a hospital stay to give birth?

And people actively choosing NOT to have kids. Hooray for people being able to choose if and when they have children.

DriverInitial8305 · 2026-01-05T15:06:40+00:00

Birth rates are falling bc women have careers now more than ever before and younger women aren’t yearning to have kids. Even in countries that have large social safety nets and accept single mothers more in society it’s declining. People don’t want kids like they wanted in the past and I don’t see that changing anytime soon

JustMoreSadGirlShit · 2026-01-05T15:55:40+00:00

all that plus the cost of raising a kid on TWO incomes seems impossible, let alone one. plus the fact that the world is going to shit. plus the fact that pregnancy and childbirth seem like literal hell. but yes also that being a single mom sounds truly awful

electricgrapes · 2026-01-05T15:06:05+00:00

divorce rate has fallen substantially (in the US, Canada, UK, Australia). it was 50 percent at the top and now it's 40.

you should really be sure that your ideological opinions are backed by facts before spouting them everywhere.

Mrmonster225 · 2026-01-05T15:28:57+00:00

No industrialization is why. Primary reason for lots of kids was labor & the mortality rate. More industrial means more kids live til adulthood meaning bigger population. That also leads women going to school more to get these jobs meaning kids later & less plus higher costs means overall less kids for society

Just-Path-5838 · 2026-01-05T18:54:24+00:00

The reason birthrates are falling is because having kids sucks and women have more options now for finding meaning in life.

Young women want to thrive in their career, and travel or just have fun. They don't want to be weighed down. Most women I know want to have kids "one day". And "one day" translates to they'll maybe have one eventually.

I don't think men are super excited about having kids either, because everyone knows having kids sucks.

Lift_and_Lurk · 2026-01-05T15:02:13+00:00

Divorce rates are at decade lows.

The drop in birth rates is what always caused it: high cost of living, and economic/global instability.

Disastrous_Agent9307 · 2026-01-05T15:51:29+00:00

Maybe:

I think it's more likely:

Birth control
Later rates of coupling up
Reduced poverty in certain ways
Increased education for women
Increased financial pressures
Greater importance placed on politics in dating

No_Project_4738 · 2026-01-05T16:41:08+00:00

It’s that, but also many factors. It’s the cost of living, it’s women making more money and having more freedom, it’s the rise of social media and its effects on people being less social, especially men regarding porn usage. It’s our society having better forms of birth control and knowing more about what it takes to raise kids, it’s more mental health awareness and not wanting to repeat the mistakes of our parents. It takes a lot to impinge upon the desire to procreate. I think the weight of all these factors and probably others, is turning the tides for many people.

howdoiw0rkthisthing · 2026-01-05T17:16:20+00:00

Global data on marriage and divorce

Divorce rates have been trending down in many places but so have marriage rates.

I’m starting to see more on the correlation between higher fertility rates and positive opinions about children, basically if you view children as a blessing rather than a burden you’re more likely to have them and have more of them.

growframe · 2026-01-05T17:29:40+00:00

People have had children in more unstable conditions for generations upon generations.

Birthrates are falling because people just don't want kids. At all. I'd argue they they never have, but that's a different topic.

mashedturnip · 2026-01-05T17:48:32+00:00

Divorce is rare in countries with the worst fertility rates, aka Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, China

Fast_Bag_3329 · 2026-01-05T15:22:36+00:00

i would be a single mom to a billion kids before i ever make myself answerable to man or have to share my living space with one.

KayRay1994 · 2026-01-05T15:14:59+00:00

Nope, divorce race had gone up because of two things:

1) women becoming more independent and less in need to rely on men for basic survival (both legally and culturally)

2) no fault divorce being legal.

In all actually, the 50% rate is an outdated figure that occurred primarily with boomers and older gen x’ers, nowadays the divorce is between 30-40% depending on the region largely cause when people are getting married now, it isn’t out of need

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Training-Cook3507 · 2026-01-05T15:18:04+00:00

Divorce rates are actually declining in the US. But less people get married.

Mostly though, birth rates decline in developed nations because women have more options than they did in the past. They are prioritizing education and career, but because they only have a finite window to have children, it leaves less opportunity and time to have kids.

John_Oakman · 2026-01-05T15:26:53+00:00

Materialistic hedonism has become the guiding moral principle but people aren't ready to have that discussion yet (nor will they by anytime soon, corporate don't like it when the consumers start questioning why morality is somehow pegged to specific materialistic expectations).

Feeling_Ad_1034 · 2026-01-05T15:38:34+00:00

I think both falling birth rates and rising divorce rates are affected by changes in society - particular the over abundance of entertainment and stimulation.

wtknight · 2026-01-05T15:58:33+00:00

It’s capitalism and greed, mostly. People want to spend more money on themselves and less on their children, who are considered as liabilities rather than assets in industrialized capitalist countries. Social media is full of people talking about how much money they have to spend on themselves because they don’t have children.

And it becomes a kind of death spiral because, as more people have money, prices then go up, and people who aren’t as greedy and might have children decide not to have them because it is just too costly.

There is also a gender war aspect to this, as women often no longer want to trust men and sacrifice their careers and their money to go though the process of child birth. Many husbands have often treated wives poorly throughout history, so women are not being irrational. Nevertheless, greed and money do contribute to the decision.

Divorce really has nothing to do with it. People are getting married so late in life anyway, if they choose to get married at all, that they couldn’t have many children anyway even if they wanted to spend on them and could afford them.

Muscletov · 2026-01-05T16:02:46+00:00

Education, wealth, atheism and liberalism cause falling birth rates, it's almost a law of nature. Nothing you can do about it except keep the populace dumb, poor and religious.

Chance_Journalist_34 · 2026-01-05T16:05:38+00:00

Completely disagree. Why? Because higher socio economic demographics are MORE likely to get married. Yet less likely to have children compared to low socioeconomic groups. So why are middle and high earners not having as many children as low earners/unemployed.

The reason is cost and housing. If you are on social welfare they are not concerned because the government pick up the tab. The actual incentive is to have more children to increase your welfare. This group is also the most likely to be unmarried and/or divorced.

Ultimately when responsible people are managing their families and finance the glaring question is 'can we afford to have more children?' And in todays western societies the answer is clearly no.

DietTyrone · 2026-01-05T21:59:52+00:00

That's a stretch for multiple reasons.

1) Just because you got divorced, doesn't mean you didn't have kids before getting divorced.

2) Divorce rates actually went down a bit since the previous generation yet the birth rate has continued to just drop without recovering at all really.

3) This doesn't account for all the people who have kids outside of wedlock without even getting married.

anewleaf1234 · 2026-01-05T22:08:34+00:00

Or because it costs a lot of money to raise kids these days.

Flightlessbirbz · 2026-01-05T22:51:02+00:00

Divorce rates are not rising though, they are falling. I would say that yes, women are more acutely aware of the risks of having a child with a man these days, and also the fact they are no longer forced into it by lack of birth control or social pressures.

But the main reason for falling birth rates are that children are now a major economic liability, and we have rising cost of living combined with stagnant wages. Plus you have the fact that the standards of being a good parent nowadays are much more demanding and there is no more “village,” you cannot just tell your kids to go play outside and be back for dinner like they did in the old days or you might get arrested. Parenting is now all-consuming, at least for mothers.

So overall, people are doing the calculations and deciding against very expensive and time-consuming additions to their homes, even if they might like to have children to some degree.

captainsaveahoe69 · 2026-01-05T15:04:06+00:00

Women initiate most of the divorces. So if you don't want to be a single mom, don't get divorced.

Independent-Mail-227 · 2026-01-05T15:20:47+00:00

Women initiates 70% of divorces, almost half of births are out wedlock as per 2025. There's no evidence in favor of your suppositions.

Logos1789 · 2026-01-05T15:47:13+00:00

Birth rates are falling because the norm was predicated on women actually being loyal.

Title	The reason birthrates are falling is the raise of divorce rates
Author	Jazzlike-Lifeguard38
Upvotes	0
Comments	138
Date	January 5, 2026 2:58 PM UTC (6 months ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/PurplePillDebate
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/PurplePillDebate/comments/1q4nupj/the_reason_birthrates_are_falling_is_the_raise_of/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/PurplePillDebate/the-reason-birthrates-are-falling-is-the-raise-of.1570481 https://theredarchive.com/post/1570481

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