Global birth rates are falling.
Consider this: “In 1970, a woman in Mexico might have expected to have seven children, on average. By 2014, that figure had fallen to around two. As of 2023, it was just 1.6. That means that the population is no longer making enough babies to maintain itself.”
And this same steep decline is happening around the world, even in countries where demographers were not expecting to see such a decline so quickly. Apparently, by just 2050 it’s expected that “more than three-quarters of countries will be in a comparable situation [to Mexico].” And, of course, this has consequences on a national level: “In economies that have been built around the prospect of steady population growth, the concern is over future slumps in innovation and productivity, as well as having too few working-age citizens to support a growing number of older people. Researchers warn of ripple effects, from weakened military power and less political influence for countries with lower fertility rates, to fewer investments in green technology.”
Now, the article I’m quoting from gives their reasons for why they think birth rates are falling. (One thing they do briefly mention is “access to contraception”—in other words, abortion and the abortion pill—but they don’t emphasize how much that has decimated the global population. It merely gets a passing mention.) And they discuss how they think countries should adjust to these falling birth rates. But, of course, what they don’t do is apply a biblical worldview to the issue. (At one point, they stop to say, “Transgender men and non-binary people might become pregnant. We use ‘woman’ and ‘women’ in this story to reflect language used in the field”—no biblical worldview present anywhere in this article!)
It is the biblical worldview—not the atheistic, secular worldview dominating Western culture today—that says children are a blessing, a good gift from God.
It’s the biblical worldview that says children are worth the sacrifice. It’s the biblical worldview that says the household matters and is vital for the flourishing of society. Yes, the family was the first and most fundamental human institution that God ordained—marriage and children matter to him. It’s the family that is the backbone of the culture and that God uses to transfer a spiritual legacy from one generation to the next.
Genesis 1:28 reads, “And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.'”
Genesis 9:1 further states, “And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.‘”
Psalm 127:3–5 declares, “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them!”
Birth rates are falling globally, and it will have huge consequences for individuals, families, communities, nations, and societies. But the ultimate answer isn’t what Scientific American suggests throughout the article—no, it’s the biblical worldview and the gospel . . . beginning in Genesis. That’s the answer to everything!
