The global fertility rate has fallen from 5 births per woman in 1950 to 2.3 in 2021 – and even lower in the U.S., partly due to the cost of child-rearing and shifts in priorities. But “falling population and an elderly or aging population puts a lot of fiscal and economic pressures on society,” says Economics Professor Melissa Kearney. “We’re gonna fundamentally need a reorientation of society towards one that’s much more family-friendly, more pro-kid.”