Japan was the first to have a fertility crisis, but they’ve slowed the issue a lot. Spain and Italy, for example, now have a lower fertility rate than Japan

I find fertility rate to be such a fascinating topic, because there is no simple explanation, although many people will suggest simple explanations

I’ve heard it’s because of the cost of housing, but Japan fixed their housing crisis decades ago, and South Korea never had much of one, at least not compared to Canada, New Zealand, or the US

I’ve heard it’s about how women are treated culturally, but then why would the fertility rate in places like Norway and Finland be dropping so dramatically?

And I’ve heard it’s a reaction to dystopic late-stage capitalism, but then why is the fertility rate dropping so rapidly in North Korea?

The general explanation of difficult economic conditions doesn’t seem to hold up when you look at a place like the Korean peninsula. There was a great famine in North Korea during the '90s - the arduous march - where millions died in only a couple years. The fertility rate remained far higher during that than it is now. South Korea had far worse economic conditions than it has now, but had a far higher fertility rate

My hypothesis is that it’s related to some form of pollution. Obviously there are many contributing factors, but it’s interesting to me that the lowest birth rates are all in countries around major manufacturing; especially technology manufacturing. South Korea, Taiwan, and China all have the lowest birth rates in the world. Many European countries like Spain and Italy aren’t far behind. Both areas have the highest concentration of high-tech manufacturing