The real secret to higher birth rates
October 30, 2026
Why is Israel the only developed country in the world with above-replacement fertility rates whilst fertility in China, very much still a middle-income country, is among the lowest in the world? The answer, it seems, is culture.
But is such a broad answer as “culture” really satisfactory? What is it about culture that matters? It is not obvious which aspects of culture are driving changes in fertility. Some have invoked the idea that the loss of traditional values is driving fertility decline, whilst others have argued that traditional values in the modern context are actually deleterious to fertility.
