Shanghai in China has a fertility rate 0f 0.50
Some parts of South Korea like wards of Seoul and Busan are already in or below 0.30 children per woman
In 2023 Taiwan’s fertility rate was 0.865 and still going downside
The Hong kong one was 0.75 kids per woman
Singapore is 0.97 (and declining very fast)
Japan is the highest at 1.20 (with Tokyo being 0.99) and they’re declining also really fast
Why???
In: Other
Singaporean POV. Life is stressful and expensive here. Property prices are insane.
Our Education system is also very competitive.
Kids as young as 3 years old are sent for language enrichment lessons and music lessons. Child suicide rates are a closely guarded Govt secret.
After the kid struggles through the super competitive education system, good jobs are hard to come by because Singapore employers prefer cheap labour from neighbouring countries Malaysia and India.
All in all- you are bringing a kid into the world just to see the kid suffer. Why would u want to do that???
After reading many of the comments here I’ll comment on something which has not been touched upon.
Having a child is not fun, being pregnant is not fun, raising a child is difficult, women don’t want to sacrifice their life to stay at home and raise their child, etc.
Why does this matter now but not before? Because women now have to choice!
The choice to be educated, work and earn. They can now live a life that they could not before. They can take care of themselves and live how they want to without being tied down by the responsibility of taking care of a little human!
This also imo explains why monetary incentives do not change declining birth rates.
South Korea is messed up. I got colleagues from there and they work 16 hours a day, no vacation days, nothing. Modern slavery in live streaming.
Here in China many companies will outright not hire women that plan to get pregnant in the future. (As asked during job interviews) and there have been cases of Pregnant women being fired without consequences.
Education rates especially among women reduce the birth rates dramatically, when women find that they can do other things other than just give birth to kids and raise them they do. East Asia has probably the best educated women in the world.
have you seen how much work these parents put into their children? how much money goes into the education? You couldn’t afford two not even if you wanted to, and I’m not talking about money, but just time and effort. And that’s completely overlooking the fact that these countries have a shit work life balance. You work work work then you work some more so that your child might get some good work. Why would anyone go through that?
It’s the same reason why Gen Z that you know of in the Western countries are constantly called out for not dating, not participating in the economy, and whatever else they are called out for. They are in an economy where the wealth is concentrated in the Boomer generations and the traditional ladders for advancing social classes have largely been destroyed. They don’t see a way to improve their lot in life, so why would they bring a child into the situation? Or even bother with relationships? They are busy just trying to survive.
For East Asia the problem is even worse because of the rigid social hierarchy and outdated expectations for people. Though I personally think that the financial aspect is the chief problem. If people are able to get a steady job, income, and housing easily, I don’t see why most wouldn’t want to get settled and have families.
1. Low income / no accessibility to housing
2. Shit labour laws (Most countries BARELY provide assistance to new mothers and fathers. In Hong Kong, paternity leave is 5 days)
3. Poor worklife balance (Thais work 6 days per week, and whilst most other East Asian countries have 5 day work weeks, you usually overtime (without pay) alot.
4. Equality in the workplace (Men in Asia are still supposed to be the “breadwinner” and still have to pay for dates / everything a woman wants. With women competing in the workplace, there are less high earning jobs. Also when a woman makes high income, they generally only date men with similar or higher income, whereas statistically men don’t mind dating poorer women.
5. Poor outlook – Asia is captialism run amok. You’re either wealthy or poor. There isn’t much of a middle class. Those who have money have children because they can and want to. Less fortunate people don’t have that liberty and actively trying to scrape by, day to day.
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