The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has warned of a crisis of "reproductive capacity" in the face of declining birth rates in many parts of the world. Millions of people are unable to have as many children as they would like, but not because of unwillingness. Rather, they lack reproductive capacity because economic and social barriers prevent them from parenting.
This is the main finding of the UNFPA's State of the World Population 2025 report, "The Real Fertility Crisis: the Real Issue for UNFPA: the pursuit of reproduction in a changing world."
The report is based on academic research and new data from a UNFPA/YouGov survey covering 14 countries - together more than a third of the world's population - and states that one in five people in the world expect not to have as many children as they would like.
The main reasons include the prohibitive cost of parenthood, job insecurity, housing, fears about the state of the world and lack of a suitable partner. A toxic mix of economic insecurity and sexism plays a role in many of these problems, the report says.
"A huge number of people are not able to create the kind of family they would like," said the Executive Director of UNFPA Natalia Kanemova. "The problem is lack of choice, not desire, which has serious consequences for individuals and society. This is the real fertility crisis and the answer lies in responding to what people say they need: paid family leave, affordable fertility care and supportive partners."
Among the report's findings: More than half of people said that economic problems were a barrier to having as many children as they wanted; one in five people reported that they were under pressure to have children even if they did not want them; one in three adults had experienced an unwanted pregnancy; 11 % people said that the burden of caring for children would undermine their ability to have them; 40 % respondents over the age of 50 said that they had not been able to have as many children as they wanted.
The report cautions against simplistic or coercive responses to declining fertility rates, such as child bonuses or fertility targets, and warns that these measures are largely ineffective and may violate human rights.
Instead, UNFPA urges governments to empower people to make reproductive choices freely, including by investing in affordable housing, decent work, parental leave and a full range of reproductive health services and reliable information.
The UNFPA also calls on companies to address all the ways in which gender inequality undermines people's decisions about family, including workplace norms that push women out of paid work; the lack of paid flexible leave for men and the stigmatization of committed fathers; the lack of affordable childcare; restrictions on reproductive rights, including contraception, abortion and fertility care; and the gendered attitudes of young men and women that contribute to loneliness.
According to the UN body on reproductive and maternal health, a tailored combination of economic, social and political measures will be needed in each country to help people start the families they want.
Xinhua/gnews.cz - GH
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