Seems to me that birth control is a part of the story, but modern lifestyle is another. People spend more time away from home; at home we do homework with kids, watch TV, scroll social networks on smartphones. It’s not just reduction of unprotected sex, but also reduction of sex in general.
I wouldn’t be surprised if people had more kids during COVID, simply because they spent more time with their partners.
I disagree. I think that access to birth control is the main factor that has been affecting fertility rates because birth control is necessary to enable the modern lifestyle that you’re talking about. As a thought experiment, if all the world’s birth control instantly disappeared, then it would be normal for everybody who has heterosexual sex to have large families, especially since modern technology ensures that nearly all infants live to adulthood. I’ve written some more detailed explanations in my Population Dynamics FAQs.
Seems to me that birth control is a part of the story, but modern lifestyle is another. People spend more time away from home; at home we do homework with kids, watch TV, scroll social networks on smartphones. It’s not just reduction of unprotected sex, but also reduction of sex in general.
I wouldn’t be surprised if people had more kids during COVID, simply because they spent more time with their partners.
I disagree. I think that access to birth control is the main factor that has been affecting fertility rates because birth control is necessary to enable the modern lifestyle that you’re talking about. As a thought experiment, if all the world’s birth control instantly disappeared, then it would be normal for everybody who has heterosexual sex to have large families, especially since modern technology ensures that nearly all infants live to adulthood. I’ve written some more detailed explanations in my Population Dynamics FAQs.
Although it’s a common belief that the Covid lockdowns increased birth rates for the reason that you describe, it’s actually false. The US Census Bureau recorded that birth rates declined during the lockdowns because people became poorer. This is consistent with my theory of population dynamics. My theory predicts that people have more children when they become wealthier, and they have fewer children when they become poorer. As the linked post explains, there is a better explanation as for why there’s a negative correlation between wealth and fertility rates.