[toomuchtodo]

Data shows [1] educated, empowered women with access to contraceptives have less children overall, and defer having children until later in life, full stop.

I also argue it is a net positive, regardless of the underlying mechanism(s), that the fertility rate is declining across the world considering the unsustainable consumption rate per capita of the first world.

[1] https://ourworldindata.org/fertility-rate#empowerment-of-wom...

[robotnikman]

This is a good point. A lower fertility rate will probably result in a better quality of life for people in the long run since there is less competition for resources

[Brain_Thief]

I agree with those points but I have not seen evidence for the idea that the availability of social safety nets is not also a significant factor in fertility rate trend, which I took to be the thrust of your original post.

[toomuchtodo]

Conversely, I haven't seen evidence that the availability of social safety nets is a significant factor. More data is required, but I still believe my theory is on sound footing based on existing fertility data.

[Brain_Thief]

You didn't state a theory; to the extent that you implied a theory similar to the one I described the available data does not support it at all...