UNITED NATIONS, June 10 (Xinhua) -- The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) on Tuesday warned of a crisis of "reproductive agency" amid declining birth rates in many parts of the world.
Millions of people are unable to have the number of children they want, not because of unwillingness. Rather, they lack reproductive agency as economic and social barriers are stopping them from becoming parents.
This is the central finding of UNFPA's 2025 State of World Population report, "The real fertility crisis: The pursuit of reproductive agency in a changing world."
Drawing on academic research and new data from a UNFPA/YouGov survey spanning 14 countries -- together home to over a third of the global population, the report finds that one in five people globally expect to not have the number of children they desire.
Key drivers include the prohibitive cost of parenthood, job insecurity, housing, concerns over the state of the world, and the lack of a suitable partner. A toxic blend of economic precarity and sexism plays a role in many of these issues, shows the report launched on Tuesday.
"Vast numbers of people are unable to create the families they want," said UNFPA Executive Director Natalia Kanem. "The issue is lack of choice, not desire, with major consequences for individuals and societies. That is the real fertility crisis, and the answer lies in responding to what people say they need: paid family leave, affordable fertility care, and supportive partners."
The findings of the report include: more than half of people said economic issues were a barrier to having as many children as they wanted; one in five people report having been pressured to have children when they didn't want to; one in three adults have experienced an unintended pregnancy; 11 percent say that unequal caregiving burdens would undermine their ability to have children; 40 percent of respondents over the age of 50 say they failed to have the number of children they wanted.
The report warns against simplistic or coercive responses to declining birth rates, such as baby bonuses or fertility targets, noting that these policies are largely ineffective and can violate human rights.
Instead, UNFPA urges governments to empower people to make reproductive decisions freely, including by investing in affordable housing, decent work, parental leave, and the full range of reproductive health services and reliable information.
UNFPA also calls on societies to address all the ways that gender inequality undermines people's family choices, including workplace norms that push women out of paid work; lack of paid flexible leave for men and stigma against engaged fathers; lack of affordable childcare; restrictions in reproductive rights, including contraception, abortion and fertility care; diverging gender attitudes held by young men and women, contributing to singlehood.
A tailored mix of economic, social, and political measures will be needed in each country to help people form the families they want, said the UN body for reproductive and maternal health. ■
