We are witnessing a significant shift in attitudes towards having children in many countries across the world. We have now reached a point where over half of all nations are below replacement levels of 2.1 births per woman.

Far from being overpopulated, our world now faces a demographic winter in the form of underpopulation. The lack of support for marriage, understood as directed to procreation and family life, and the particular lack of support for big families, now threatens the very viability of a number of societies in the western world.

Many societies are now risking their very existence with their low reproductive rates. A senior advisor to the Japanese Prime minister recently warned that if declining birth rates were not curbed the Japanese people would cease to exist.[1]

The Pew Research Center, on 25 July 2024, released a report to further understand why the current generation of younger people no longer desire to have children. We see a wide range of responses to the question of why people are going down the path of childlessness. One issue is that many of the younger generation have little optimism in relation to the future.

Compared to previous generations the thought of procreation is considered not just daunting but irresponsible.

Constant talk about man-made climate change, in particular, has fostered a pessimism about the future of the planet and its capacity to support humanity.

Another concern among young people is the belief that it is becoming too expensive to raise a child. Coupled with this is a desire by many women to advance their career and so put off having children.

The cost of living, focus on their career, a belief that they can’t afford to raise a child and anxiety about the perceived threat of climate disaster, were mentioned by 30 percent of the respondents in the Pew report.

These factors have led many younger people to take the view that having children is off their life agenda.

In the Book of Genesis, God instructed Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. The loss of a desire to be fruitful constitutes an existential crisis for the human person. Not only did God make us to reproduce, but, of course, reproduction is necessary for the continuation of humanity. There is a critical need to remind the world of this inescapable reality and to rebuild a sound understanding of family as being an essential aspect to human life.

For some the decision not to have children is also the result of an inherent selfishness that can only result in the loss of genuine human flourishing.

As Pope Francis said (10 May 2024) “The reasons for pollution and world hunger, for example, are not based on the number of children being born, but on the choices of those who think only of themselves, the delusion of unbridled, blind and rampant materialism, of a consumerism that, like an evil virus, erodes at the root existence of people and society.”

The choice against having children is harmful to the person and society. It readily breeds a self-centredness and encourages a materialist view of life.

There is a need for the Church to be more forthright in professing the value of marriage and family. Our Catholic educational systems can be at the forefront of the promotion of a positive vision for marriage and family. In particular, there is a need to dispel negative attitudes towards large families. Family life should be celebrated and the beauty and dignity of marriage constantly affirmed.

Now is the time to promote the value of marriage and family in our society. Negative attitudes towards marriage and family need to be countered by positive promotion of the value and importance of marriage and family to the society. Fatherhood and motherhood are noble callings which call forth the best out of our humanity. At the present time the value of motherhood as a full-time noble vocation worthy of the most vibrant years of a woman’s life especially needs to be promoted.

There is also a need for governments to be more pro-family in their policies.

What is needed in the national political debate is to give attention to this crisis of civilisation that has arisen through to anti-life and anti-family attitudes. We need the development of sound and solid policies which will once again genuinely advance family life and make it a priority in the consideration of any legislation.

Governments must address the way in which our economy penalises couples for having a large family. It is now almost financially impossible for one parent to stay at home to provide the care required for flourishing family life. Through our economic policies we are literally pushing our societies to the brink. The current trajectory we are on is unsustainable. Urgent and serious action is needed now.

Sensible proposals will meet with support from ordinary Australians who want to see the current directions our society is taking reversed.

In the face of a threatened demographic winter marriage and family need to be upheld as a most sacred calling and a source of true human flourishing.

[1] ‘Japan will cease to exist if it can’t slow a fall in its birth rate, PM’s adviser warns,’ Independent, 6 March 2023.