My new book, Birth-Rate Crisis, co-written with Andrea Pearson, is out today.
Australia’s fertility rate was 1.5 children per woman in 2024.
A population needs about 2.1 to hold steady over the long term.
We have tried paying for babies. Australia has offered a baby bonus since 2004. Fertility rose from 1.8 that year to a peak of 2.0 in 2008. It has declined steadily since.
And we are not alone. No high-income country apart from Israel is having enough babies to sustain its population.
That means fewer young people supporting an ageing population.
Fewer workers. Schools closing because there aren’t enough children to fill them.
The usual explanation is cost. People can’t afford children.
That fails to explain why the wealthiest societies have the lowest birth rates.
The answer lies in how modern life is changing what people want.
That is what Birth-Rate Crisis is about.
It draws on decades of research, including a research program I fund at La Trobe University in Melbourne. And it puts forward a very different approach to fixing the problem.
The ebook is A$0.99 for a limited time. Print and audiobook editions are at the same link.
Jim
Can’t wait to read it!