|
Thoughts:
I live in a comfortable middle-class bubble and I already bit the bullet and have already had kids, so wtf do I know.
Also, yes.
Also, who gives a fuck what international average baby numbers are? Western nations can't compare their own birthrates with places like Niger and Somalia. The question isn't how do we (AU or NZ) compare with somewhere else, the question is what birthrates do our economies require to maintain our standards of living?, or if a comparison is mandatory, how do the current birthrates compare with the birthrates when the laws and workplace practices that define our society were put in place?
Also, last time I looked men don't have babies. So the problems become a lot more clear if you rephrase the statement as
Australian women are likely to have an average of 1.6 babies over the next five years, below the international average of 2.3.
What is it about Australian society in the year of our lord 2024 that is stopping women from having babies?
See also: in Australia, women are the majority of university enrolments and graduations in almost every field of study except engineering and IT.
|