Plummeting birth rates!

It is intriguing to realize the massive decline in birth rates over years in the western world, particularly the United States. This huge decline has been influenced by various factors most of them associated with the ever-changing and advancing world that has shifted the values of humanity. According to Elon Musk, a tech billionaire, he mentioned that "low and rapidly declining birth rates are one of the biggest risks to civilization". Musk`s prediction of the crumbling of civilization is a cause for concern. One may ask "what went wrong with civilization?" This topic of plummeting birth rates has been a debate for years now, with valid opinions raised, some have defended low birth rates whilst others like Musk have raised concerns. Statistically, if we go back in time around the 1950s the United States birth rate was twice if not more than it is today. This downward spiral has been associated with the changing world and other factors that came with it. The world as it is today is filled with various opportunities for success for those who are ambitious, and this has greatly resulted in massive wealth accumulation especially in developed countries like the U.S. Because of those career opportunities that are vastly available to people, the values have shifted, and life has become more career-based rather than family-based. People are choosing to forgo family creation and chase their dreams. Whilst this is true for most people in developed countries, some people are seeing children as liabilities and choose not to form a family and rather reduce the expense that comes with having kids. One may support that reason by stating that the advancing world is getting more expensive for even one person to afford to live, but the reality is that people are forgetting the real purpose of having families which are to bring God`s spirit children to the world. In addition to the fact that people are more career-driven, others postpone having children with the idea of “living the life” first and then popping out babies later when they are ready to settle down. In those cases, most of the time these people either have a difficult time giving birth because of the age they will be in. In most cases, this happens to young couples that want to pursue careers first and also to people who are well off and want to travel the world and live their dreams. This has often resulted to regret. Another reason why birth rates are reducing dramatically is that many people come from dysfunctional families, and the disappointing family experiences they went through in their tender years might instill fear of forming families that will go through similar experiences. The scars from those experiences create a concrete wall that causes them to shun family-focused lives and live “simple lives”, so they call them. With people coming from dysfunctional families, some parents from these families find themselves raising the kids alone without the presence of another spouse. Mothers are oftentimes victims of those situations, thus these single mothers with fewer resources find it hard to raise their kids and avoid having more kids. Another elephant in the room is the fear of commitment that has been evident in young adults. This has been caused by various factors one of them being the sharp increase in the number of divorces. This is a big one! People tend to be influenced by other people`s experiences, and the increase in divorce rates has caused many young people to be afraid of marriage commitments. It seems like people are always looking for the easy way out and choosing not to get married because seeing other people`s experiences is one easy way out. This in turn means that birth rates plummet as fewer people are getting married. There are countless reasons why people choose not to have children, some of the reasons might be beyond their control, but experiments do show that deep down people have that burning desire of having kids but the challenge is always to act in faith!

                                                                  Work Cited 

Shead, Sam. “Elon Musk Says 'Civilization Is Going to Crumble' If People Don't Have More Children.” CNBC, CNBC, 7 Dec. 2021, https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/07/elon-musk-civilization-will-crumble-if-we-dont-have-more-children.html.