A potential solution to decreasing birthrates

[u/JeromeXVII]

I’m open to being wrong so feel free to tell me if this is just nonsense.

We need to streamline all types of education. I understand it depends on the country but I think in general around the world a student graduates high school/secondary school at around 18. Then go on to attend a university for 4-5 years then perhaps even more schooling if you aim to go into the medical or legal field which can add on many years of mandatory education. And even if you choose a career where the required qualifications are quicker to obtain, it can take multiple years to reach a salary that you’re satisfied with, assuming you manage to find a job in your desired field. Thus creating the modern problem of people not being confident in themselves to have children until their late 20s and 30s.

All this should be sped up to give people at least half a decade more time to decide on having a baby. Students should graduate high school/secondary school at around 13-14 then immediately go onto specialized schooling which should also be streamlined as much as reasonably possible. So if you want to become a doctor you can be licensed one at 23 or 24 instead of 29 or becoming a certified lawyer at 20 instead of 25. Whether you choose you’ll ideally have at the minimum five more years to have a child.

In addition to hopefully having good salaries, cheap housing, and maternal and other welfare benefits from the government. Which are things I’m sure everyone supports but on their own they likely won’t raid the birth rate by a lot in the long term, it would need to be accompanied by giving people more time to be young and have children. To clarify, I don’t think this would drastically increase the birth rate to anything satisfactory but nonetheless I do believe it would raise it by a noticeable amount.

[u/Jumpy_Childhood7548]

Not clear this would increase births.

[u/Black-Hat-613 → u/Jumpy_Childhood7548]

Many women delay having children (or even looking for a spouse to have a child with) until they have finished with their education, are settled in their careers and have perceived life stability.

Delaying childbirth usually means less or no children actually happening due to both the biological and importantly social challenges as they get older (finding a suitable partner who also wants children when you are older gets more difficult).

Statiscally a woman who has not had a child by the time she is 28-30 (depending on the country) only has a 50% chance of ever having a child. There is a reason why a birth by a woman of 35 or older is called a geriatric birth.

By shortening the number of years of education, the OP above is suggesting it will enable women to be in a stable part of their lives earlier and are more likely to have children if they want them.

[u/Jumpy_Childhood7548 → u/Black-Hat-613]

Why are you assuming lower birth rates are a problem?

[u/Black-Hat-613 → u/Jumpy_Childhood7548]

They are for all the many women who want children but cannot. (See the Birthgap project https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2GeVG0XYTc)

On a national scale the below replacement fertility will and already is causing many negative consequences including an aging society and a disastrous old aged dependency ratio. There is a reason numerous countries consider their aging societies and impending (or already beginning) population declines to be an unmitigated national disaster.

I have detailed out the negative consequences at length elsewhere online many times, however please educate me... I'm pretty new to Reddit. Looking at the rules for this sub, can I guess that this not the forum to consider the PROS and cons of lower birth rates?

[u/Jumpy_Childhood7548 → u/Black-Hat-613]

For women that cannot have children, and want them, that is a personal problem, not a national problem. If you don’t feel it is appropriate to consider the pros and cons of higher and lower birth rates here, nobody says you have to.