[hunglee2]

There is no mystery to declining birthrate - it correlates universally to economic development at state level, which in turn is dependent on increasing women labour force participation. Economic development does not happen without women entering the market economy, yet when this happens women stop having enough children to replace those in the population who die. This is the same phenomenon everywhere, we are only seeing the most acute manifestation in East Asia first because they never had mass immigration to temporarily fix the numbers.

[Halong]

> There is no mystery to declining birthrate - it correlates universally to economic development at state level

Observably true.

> which in turn is dependent on increasing women labour force participation. Economic development does not happen without women entering the market economy

I think you have your causation reversed there. Economic development allows women to enter the market economy. It does not require it.

[rayiner]

Modern economies differ significantly in fertility rates. France’s fertility rate among native-born French is more than double south Korea’s.

Moreover, government policy can have a significant impact. Hungary increased its fertility rate by 1/3 in the last decade through straightforward benefits to people having families. Hungary’s female labor force participation rate is the same as Korea’s.