Birth rates are declining in the developed world and there is every reason to believe that will continue as countries continue to develop. By 2086, we expect the global population to peak at 10.43 billion, then start falling.
This has caused fears of overpopulation to devolve into fears of underpopulation. And here the concern is a regression into poverty—that there won’t be enough money in the economy to support everyone and to continue investing in human progress.
I have seen so many people come up with various solutions to this problem: exowombs, free childcare, free education, paying stay-at-home parents for their work. Maybe these things would coerce people into having children, the thinking goes.
But none would coerce me.