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Poll Results and Comments : U.S. Birthrates Near Record Lows and DeepSeek Data Breach

Poll Results and Comments : U.S. Birthrates Near Record Lows and DeepSeek Data Breach

Anna Eisenberg
April 24, 2025

Anna's Daybreak News

_{Just facts, you think for yourself}

Is the decline in U.S. birthrates primarily driven by economic factors rather than social changes?

59% No, social changes are equally or more significant
41% Yes, economic factors are the main cause

Email	Comments
rola...	Me first is bearing its fruits....
gabb...	Some women want a career more than they want to start a family. For me, kids were never even a desire. And now, I pity parents. It's an awful world..school shootings, social media etc....who would want to add to that chaos.
mich...	Women have significant careers they value and they lose momentum when they stop their career to have a child.
jwar...	The US position on abortion, and the ease at which we discard the unborn plays a significant role in our nations decline both from a population standpoint and is detrimental to our society as a whole.
mpda...	Can we say abortions?
to55...	Young couples are struggling with inflation
ebr....	It's probably 50/50. We haven't had kids because we don't want to contribute to the world's problems.
dab1...	The party of doom and gloom has scared young people into believing that there is no future.
serg...	Who can afford a kid nowadays?
rtet...	Only people who don't pay for childcare believe that social changes affect parents more than economics. Dem or GOP, $1,000 a week for childcare impacts most folks.
bett...	In some places births are smaller the abortions. That's why I said social changes. Not sure because if recent legal changes it might go up.
e.a....	Social changes - peer pressure - are driving the trend to smaller families. There is also a growing sentiment that having no children may provide the opportunity to live a more satisfying, more independent life.
jhck...	Women are spending more time in pursuing professional careers and now constitute a higher percentage of university graduates over their male counterparts. Young women are therefore deciding to delay having children or giving up creating families to achieve their professional objectives.
clar...	It is so expensive to have a child and have them well educated and fed. Child care is also impossible to find and if you do find it half of your income. I would have had two children if it wasn’t so expensive and I didn’t have to worry about retirement
lizk...	It’s self-regulation, so we don’t completely destroy the world.
ebon...	Having a child is risky and costly. Women are more educated than ever, enjoy traveling and are climbing the corporate ladder. Maternity leave policies aren’t long enough and childcare costs are astronomical
susa...	We want people to consider finances before they have children and reasonable people realize the US makes it too costly to work and have children at the same time.
kath...	People are choosing to be child free to suit their lifestyle.
ben....	Family planning for families who cannot have their own babies but are interested in surrogacy and IVF to have biological children are costly. There are very few government programs or career benefit package options to support the heavy financial cost of having a child this way.
jone...	If our govt was more supportive of our people by forgiving student loans and providing more childcare I’m certain the birth rate would increase substantially.
jamf...	1. This generation, due to technology, is more self centered. Also: the loss of God and spirituality plays a part. 2. The Spike from multiple Covid vaccines remains in the system ( sometimes for a year or more ) resulting in miscarriage. I have known many young women who miscarried after getting mandated vaccine. Tragic.
lisa...	Women are working more and having harder time finding partners.
jare...	Blaming economic factors for men choosing to not roll the dice with marriage/children is hard cope, IMO. It's primarily a massive rejection to culture and society's double standards towards men. It's going to continue to get worse too, because the general consensus among experts is to dismiss what men say is the problem and use arbitrary factors like "bad economy" to cover up unflattering truths.
hill...	The book, “The Population Bomb” had a profound effect on the birth rate, as it predicted (wrongly) severe food shortages and also other issues such as resource depletion, etc. Also, the women,s movement encouraged women to pursue careers and delay having children which led to fewer births.
mjd1...	Both factors impactful
kric...	Both factors are significant contributors to not wanting or having kids.
meli...	Environmental concerns are part of the mix. And politics, too, contribute to the picture.
kate...	Many women today (of childbearing age and outside those ages) prioritize bodily autonomy and independence/personal freedom even more than prior generations of women. That, plus economic benefits of working / costs of children / challenge finding adequate mates creates a low birth rate situation.
cade...	Continued excess in available resources and commodities, social pressures (especially on women) to pursue career and individual goals over family, and consistent media (entertainment and news) propaganda that families are detrimental have all convinced these next generations that starting a family is not only unnecessary, but harmful to the highest good, which is individual happiness.
rdav...	Cost are hugely expensive. And then there’s the challenge of balancing work with raising a family.
cica...	Again, it’s a both/and situation
bone...	Sahm with 6 kids at 36 yrs old. Money is tight but it’s doable. Culturally we are telling women to wait to have kids and to work. Also men are not serious about settling down earlier in life bc of the endless options with the internet.
hanl...	Both but i think economic factors drives social change
fred...	Social changes in the balance of dependence/independence between men and women are also responsible for changes in birth rates.
atli...	The many reasons that people have little hope for themselves and their prospective children can be blamed heavily on the greedy and immoral leadership of both US political parties and the oligarchs who control them.
lawe...	Since Reagan implemented Trickle Down economics and gave significant tax breaks to the wealthy, wealth has flown to the wealthy and a majority of people of the ability to support a nuclear family on one salary. Lack of affordable childcare is another reason for delaying or avoiding having children. (It's nuts for the administration to cut a program like Headstart which enables more people to work vs stay at home living off of Welfare. Another reason I believe that the issue is economics is that women need to work to ensure their own economic security is independent of that of their partner. In the past, a stay at home mother was often locked into troubled marriages because of their total financial reliance on their partner - this isn't healthy for women or their children. In the event, the man is disabled, killed, or becomes a domestic threat, women who haven't worked are few options for work that can support their family. Subjecting women and children to Christian Nationalist's fond memories of how families should work won't work for today's families. Women want to know that should anything go wrong that they will be able to support the size family they choose to have. The administration should support education of birth control (so women and men can choose when to have children vs having to consider between an abortion OR whether or not to have a child before they are financially able to support one), affordable access to birth control (same reason and the first), policies that support affordable childcare (so that both partners can return to work), tax policies that place LESS burden on the non-wealthy so that MORE families can afford the dream of owning a home OR affordable decent affordable housing.
andr...	I don't think it's possible to separate these two.
msyk...	I hear as many acquaintances bemoaning bringing a child into the chaos of our current society as I do about economic burdens and economic uncertainty.
kimk...	Should be a third choice: population of earth is too high, so don't try to affect people's choices to not have lots of children.
bilt...	sexual morals have shifted so much. When sex outside marriage was not in vogue Marriage became the main social option. That moral compass has collapsed. Furthermore, easy abortions have further added to the demise of commitment. As CS Lewis has said, "We don't just break God's laws. We get broken by them." That applies to cultures as well as individuals.
tmor...	I think costs are one factor but uncertainty now is as great if not a greater factor. The world is at unrest and the US is just as uncertain. With fears of going backwards in terms of rights for women, LGBTQ, and financial support through social programs, it is simply a scary time to have children and raise them.
zack...	The fall from within continues in the U.S. Good thing “Biden” brought in 20+ million to replace us. I love the anti-math great replacement denialists.
stac...	I think a lot of people are realizing they don’t want to raise children in a country that is going down hill as quickly as ours.
podn...	I am 49 and work with many 20-30 year olds. The majority of labor of parenting falling on gals and the recent last decade’s honesty and informational access about that is number one reason why women are choosing no way. Also satisfaction in life without kids/ choosing oneself and mental well-being over outside familial pressure, and the pressures in general to have a family like there once was dying dow- as well as gender and romantic norms changing. (Poly relationships, lgbtq relationships, etc) There are whole Reddit threads devoted to the hell that new motherhood can be and the psychological pressure wiht very little mental health or postpartum support available in our country. These things are the real reasons. Why would a young woman choose to change their happy life when they have found out that women do most of the parenting, house cleaning, life management + kid management work AND are expected to work full time now too ? It’s an impossible equation that requires new standards in mental health care and changing uo of masculine and feminine homemaking roles.
loui...	Why would a women want to get pregnant in a country where, a miscarriage could end your life bleeding out in a hospital parking lot, or if she lived would face criminal charges, a sonogram shows a badly deformed fetus which is not compatible with life but would be forced to carry to term and I could go on but pregnancy in America is dangerous and a women is literally risking her life.
sara...	The US does nothing to support women and parents like affordable wages, affordable healthcare,. Affordable childcare,
gwen...	Many young people (since COVID) are opting out of bringing children into this world.
jllm...	A better quality of life with 2.3 children
chri...	People can't afford to take care of themselves how on Earth are they having children. The people I know wit children are struggling and openly acknowledge that they can't afford the lives they had as children. We don't support families now, that would need to change to make more people want them.
inex...	Change in expectations for a woman. Less emphasis on family. Entertainment replacing sex
emee...	All costs have skyrocketed, including child care. People need 2 salaries just to pay their bills - never mind adding child care costs!
cami...	I heard of some research looking at the number of adult living alone and not in a stable relationship. The number is increasing. Babies come from stable relationships so the decrease in number of children should also consider that change.
gray...	Too many guys and transgenders to have children?
mire...	Daycare is more than a mortgage and most people don't make enough money to pay for more than 2 kids in it at a time. Single-earner income is super hard for a family to survive on. Saving for college is looking more and more unaffordable on top of soaring costs of living. If you grew up middle class and want to provide the same lifestyle for your kids, you can't have as many as your parents did.
nanc...	It was tough to choose between the two choices, as the high cost of childcare and housing weighs heavily on young couples. But the insecurity introduced since Trump became president in social and economic areas is a big concern as well.
cmar...	Who wants to bring up kids facing a country worse off than their parents and grandparents
kugi...	I never wanted kids anyways but the thought of having them today is absolutely terrifying. No clue how people do it
kitc...	Some Republican fool floated the idea to pay women $5,000 to give birth! Ha! How about $50,000 and guaranteed parental leave, in home care, tax payer child care- then we’d be happy to have more babies👶🏻
kesj...	The thinking of young people is why ring a kid into this world that are not protected by anyone. Their pregnancy is at risk, their children's health is at risk, and what id they have a girl? Less and less rights than us or our parents.
aran...	I don't think you can divide economic from social factors as readily as this question implies. If you decide not to have children because you're not sure they'll have a future, what goes into that? Everything.
krsd...	I have three daughters that are at the age of having children. It is not about societal changes. They were raised Christian and are all three married, but two of my daughters have decided not to have children because it’s too expensive. They have to choose between buying a home and having children. This is an economic issue.
keon...	Why bring a child into a world where there is already so much instability and uncertainty. Especially with already having children to worry about and their future. The political climate, economic instability, hate and violence are enough birth controls especially for minorities.
josi...	Economy is a factor but, in this politically volatile environment, there is too much division and intolerance, as well as a lack of understanding of human biology.
lpa1...	Child day care, how can families afford it? How can people afford to work there? This is the problem.
jjpl...	Is the concern about this actually about the general birthrate or the birthrate among "white" women?
cwil...	First, economic factors ARE social changes. Growing income inequality IS a social change. When people feel poorer, they are less likely to start families.
lora...	The negative media and the political climate in the US is causing this decline in birth rates for young people. All this transgender, LGPT propaganda is taking a toll on our youth as they are becoming less and less educated and want the government to support them. The US is really heading for a downfall.
shom...	Politics and the uncertainty of a world that’s safe for those that we bring into it, particularly for kids of color (I believe race relations are at a tipping point) , contribute to a complete disinterest in having additional children that will have to deal with the progressively worsening environment.
davi...	"According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, between 2000 and 2024, the CPI increased by 82.2%, while hourly earnings for production and nonsupervisory employees (blue-collar workers) increased by 115.1%. Hourly compensation thus increased 40% faster than CPI. As long as hourly compensation outpaces the CPI, the TPI is decreasing. In this instance, the TPI decreased by 15.3%, meaning average goods and services became more affordable. One hour of time worked in 2024 would buy 18.1% more from the CPI basket of goods and services than in 2000." WSJ If it's economic factors, why are pregnancy rates higher in poorer countries? high income and wealth increases opportunity cost of having children because you have to give up more, you have to give up luxuries like frequent travel, restaurants, time at the gym, or the ability to move easily and take sexier and higher paying jobs.
mary...	Economic factors are always present for every generation and they are accepted as facts of life and have a minor impact on decisions like having children.
gray...	US should adopt Canada maternity leave policy of a paid year off after birth. Also, benefits infant and toddlers to spend more time with their mother.
case...	Cost factors are a large issue. But the plight of millennial and gen Z males equally to blame.

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