LSE IQ | Intelligent questions with social science answers · LSE Podcasts

Why are we having fewer children?

·29 min·1 clip

Emily Jackson says baby bonuses and tax breaks have only a modest effect, while China’s one-child policy had a dramatic one.

1. LSE IQ asks why are we having fewer children, using Charlotte Sharman Primary School in Elephant and Castle as a symbol of falling pupil numbers. 2. Anna Bevan presents the episode for LSE IQ, and Berkay Oskan, Zoe Noble, and Emily Jackson matter because they connect demography, child-free identity, and policy. 3. The episode tests whether low fertility is a private choice, a policy problem, or a broader social shift. 4. Anna Bevan says the global fertility rate was around five in 1950 and is now 2.2, while England and Wales are at 1.4. 5. She explains the replacement rate as just over 2.1 children per woman, and links rates below that line to population shrinkage. 6. Berkay Oskan says Turkey fell from 2.1 to 1.4 in eight years, and western Turkey is now comparable to Korea and Japan. 7. He adds that Chile, Costa Rica, Mexico, and parts of South Asia have also seen dramatic declines. 8. Oskan argues that delayed couple formation and delayed marriage push childbirth into the thirties. 9. He links that delay to women’s higher education and career jobs, citing Claudia Goldin’s line about women choosing careers over jobs. 10. The episode uses a grandparent calculation to show why 1.8, 1.9, 1.5, and 1.1 produce very different numbers of grandchildren. 11. Anna Bevan notes that Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, and France were once treated as exceptions because their fertility stayed near 1.8 or 1.9. 12. She then says all five Nordic countries just recorded their lowest ever birth rates. 13. Zoe Noble says she founded We Are Child Free after years of frustration with strangers, doctors, and loved ones judging her choice not to have children. 14. She recalls a taxi-driver conversation after leaving an airport, where he nearly crashed the car while insisting she would regret being child-free. 15. Noble says her blog initially drew 40 women, which showed her she was not alone. 16. Emily Jackson says tax breaks, baby bonuses, and cheaper childcare usually have only a modest effect on birth rates. 17. Jackson contrasts that with China’s one-child policy, which she says reduced births and produced more elderly people than working-age people. 18. The interview tone is explanatory and policy-focused, with Anna Bevan moving between street scenes, statistics, and expert interviews. 19. Listeners interested in demography, family policy, and child-free debates will get the most from this episode. 20. Listeners wanting pure biography or entertainment may skip the numbers-heavy sections.

As heard by us

A grounded look at why fewer children are reshaping family life and policy.

Outside a locked primary school in South London, the episode starts with a small scene that opens onto a much larger question: why are people having fewer children, and what does that mean globally?

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

You want the clearest case for why birthrates are falling, without demographic jargon.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from LSE IQ | Intelligent questions with social science answers