[closeparen]

>most of Europe and Japan have such low fertility

Their problem is not couples trying to conceive and failing, but people choosing not to have children.

[concinds]

> people choosing not to have children

Which does not prevent it from being a problem. Government policy can change that. Not forcing teenagers to go $150.000 in debt and to have a career to repay that until they're in their 30s would be the bare minimum.

[future1979]

Yes .. in many cases, because they simply cannot afford to have children.

[closeparen]

Well, they clearly can, as many more people in more deeply impoverished parts of the world are having lots of children. Likely, they cannot afford to have children while providing the standard of living (own bedroom, back yard, healthy food, bonding time, good school, college education, etc) they consider the lower bound on acceptable.

[future1979]

I think it is clear that this is precisely what I meant. But thanks for your comment :)

[smallnamespace]

This is only true of one strongly presumes that conscious decision-making is not at all influenced at all by the body's own fertility.

But a fertile body can influence the mind in all sorts of ways -- changing hormones can modify sexual desire, for example.