[magduf]

Exactly. Birthrates were high in the past largely because women had no power, no choices about their future, and birth control didn't really exist. Their entire value in society was as an incubator and sex toy. Now that's changed, and surprise surprise, they don't want to have a bunch of kids, because kids are a lot of work.

Add into this that families have changed. It used to be that people lived with their extended families, so parents had help raising kids, from the grandparents, aunts/uncles, cousins, etc. Now no one lives with their extended families, and have gone to the "nuclear family" model, and raising a bunch of kids with only 2 parents is just too much work, so parents stop at 1 or 2, if they have any at all.

Paying women to have kids isn't going to work unless you're going to pay them enough to hire a full-time nanny.