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by dumbfounder 2227 days ago
I briefly looked for numbers around the Spanish flu but couldn't find any.

My gut says you will see a mini-boom though. A lot of dogs are getting adopted right now, and adopting a dog is a gateway drug to children for a lot of couples. Would be interesting to see how many kids are "happy accidents" vs intentional though. Oh, I just looked it up and one article says 45% in the US... yeesh.

2 comments

The chart in the article shows a dip around the time of the Spanish flu and an over-correction a few years later. But it's probably impossible to isolate the impact of flu vs WWI.

Could definitely see an increase in accidents, but I really doubt that there will be an increase in planned births at least in the short term. Lots of economic uncertainty + general fear of going to the hospital.

With the advent of IUDs, I would be surprised to see many “accidents” anymore. No one in my social circles has accidentally had a kid.