[surgical_fire]

My two cents as someone that had his only child past the age of 40:

More than low birth rates, I think that the problem is that people are postponing children until the last possible moment biology allows for it.

The reason is that people need to have their life in order before having children. I imagine it was easier in the past than nowadays.

You have Children and need to work? Daycare is extremely expensive. Want to buy a house? Well, Children weights against you when trying to get a mortgage. And I am not even getting into the actual costs of raising a child.

People say that low birthrates are a problem, but while raising children is a personal endeavor, nobody is willing to make a collective problem (it is fairly unpopular to direct taxpayer money to pay for it).

[sanderjd]

I wouldn't say "more than", I would just say that these are both different problems, with different impacts. I don't think it's obvious which thing is a bigger problem. But yes, I agree that the root causes are likely similar.