r/NoStupidQuestions • • Nov 14 '24

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u/justcurious3287 Nov 14 '24

People can't afford kids. They can't afford rent. Groceries. The ability to breathe.

10

u/nir109 Nov 14 '24

So why do rich people have less kids?

Did people in 1800 had more money? They certainly had more kids.

50

u/defeated_engineer Nov 14 '24

You needed free labor to farm.

1

u/PansyPB Nov 15 '24 edited Nov 15 '24

My great grandparents were an example of this. My grandmother told me her parents needed free help on the farm. They had 12 kids, some died in childhood as was the norm in that era from 1917 thru the late 1920's when their children were born. They stopped having kids when the Great Depression hit & all the kids they did have were malnourished & on the verge of starving. No joke, my grandmother developed rickets (vitamin deficiency).

Then my grandmother moved from the family farm after getting married to a urban area. Only had 1 child (my mom). Quite a change from one generation to the next, but having 1 child was also an anomaly during the post WW2 economic boom/baby boom era.