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It's almost like abusing humans continuously makes them not want to reproduce
We don’t breed in captivity
Tankies: "but that's anti-imperialist abuse, so good actually"
Our world goes too far against our nature. Having a child is too much of a burden. Childbirth is the creation of suffering out of thin air. The one child policy in China skewered the demographics too far out of balance. It's no wonder they're going to face serious population decline.
The concern over a falling population is perplexing. It wasn’t more than a decade or 2 ago the over population was the biggest issue. We all had some sense of relief that China had the courage to implement the 1 child policy as it would help address it. It also meant that people in countries with negative growth rates like most of the western world didn’t need to worry about limiting birth rates (we made up the short fall through immigration).
I remember this as well. I think it's really funny. People can't relax.
Watching birthrates fall into the fucking abyss sparks joy
I don't know how to explain this but I don't owe anybody a child. Children are not objects. I was not born yesterday to not know why they want people to have more children.
I don’t know how to explain this but I don’t owe anybody a child.
I've been saying similar for a while. No one is owed another human being. It applies to several concepts, including reproduction.
This happens everywhere as the standard of living rises. Most countries solve it through immigration.
As the standard of living rises, lifestyle options expand and the opportunity cost of parenting increases.
That’s like solving a drought by using water you already had in storage… The problem is still there, you just delayed it.
Bought yourself time to solve the problem too. Unfortunately most politicians don’t think about that part either
China is a bit unique due to the 1 child policy era though
In this case they have to import labor from other parts of China, if not allow limited numbers of migrant workers.
I think the issue is that the 1 child policy resulted in there being more men than women, because traditionally families preferred males. So now there's a pretty big imbalance of men to women in China.
Immigration wouldn't really fix that, unless they specifically only allowed women to immigrate. And the Chinese government is too racist for that solution - I think they'd rather see a population collapse and civil unrest than that.
Yes, I guess it did seem like a good idea at the time. Fake it (low birth rate) til you make it (improved living standards).
I love not having kids.
This is also what the richest in the world want.
Good, then maybe Elon Musk can stfu about declining birth rates and can start funding access to contraceptives.
Cultures that don’t have kids will be replaced by ones that do so this is a shame. Incredible that they insisted on one child policy for so long (though it had its exceptions), the transition will be so painful
It's not "culture", it's economics.
Amish and Mormons and Heredi Jews continue to have large families be they poor or rich. Culture is definitely a factor.
Those are outliers. Even within many of those subcultures, birthrates will fall over time. A few generations ago, Catholics in the US regularly had a dozen children. Not very common here now.
Why do you expect it to fall? Amish and Haredi Jews intentionally stay at arms length from wider society. They maintain strict social pressures that encourage their members to focus on children and discourage the dizzying alternative uses for time socially available to Catholics and the wider US population. Certainly in Israel the Haredi growth rate is remaining stable and has taken them from a marginal groups of a few tens of thousands up to one and a half million, 14% of the population.
Anyway say they do defy their customs and assimilate and follow suit, then other currently marginal groups that do find some way to keep birth rates propped up over time or raise them will eventually inherit the world. Not in our lifetime to be sure.
this post was submitted on 11 May 2026
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