| The countries that do pay for it don’t have significantly higher fertility rates. I’d say there’s an elephant in the room: Childbirth sucks. If you want women to willingly subject themselves to that, you need either a culture that virtually requires it- And I want to take a moment to emphasise that I don’t like nor want this solution, and would fight anyone who tries for it. -or you need to pay them well above the actual economic cost of rearing a child, because the process itself is strongly negative. Yes, having a child itself can be great. Eventually, several years in, when they start to become a person. That’s true, but if you ask any of the women I know, they’ll tell you they’re perfectly happy to keep it at one. That’s in Norway, by the way, so not one of those countries where you get zero support. |