Modernity is no place for children. Every advanced civilization on earth is failing to replace itself. As developing nations approach prosperity and freedom, they too begin failing to reproduce. The United States had a total fertility rate of 2.1 in 2007. That number dropped to 1.7 in 2019 and is approaching 1.6 post-pandemic. It’s not unusual for fertility rates to dip momentarily after an economic crisis, but it’s deeply troubling that birth rates in America never recovered after the Great Recession.  

One of the best chapters in Family Unfriendly: How Our Culture Made Raising Kids Much Harder Than It Needs to Be highlights a few places, like Israel and Utah, where high fertility has survived advanced development. Author Timothy P. Carney, a columnist for The Washington Examiner and an American Enterprise Institute fellow, observes that parents tend to prioritize having one spouse at home full-time in areas where deep faith and larger families are the norm. This creates a distinctive community ethos and allows a different type of childhood for the kids.