The Real Fertility Crisis.

As the world continues to experience growing demographic diversity, with more countries expected to experience rapidly declining fertility rates, alongside ethno-nationalist impulses and “overpopulation” concerns in places with persistently high fertility rates, we must exercise maximum caution – and maximum optimism. Leaders would be wise to keep the last 60 years of history in mind as they deliberate policies that might, if poorly designed, be ineffective or yield unintended consequences, with only temporary impacts but potentially terrible human rights costs. They must also recognize the legitimate concerns of young people, who need not only conditions enabling them to make free, informed reproductive choices, but also hope for a future in which those choices are supported (Gessen, 2014). Young people overwhelmingly report worries and uncertainty about their futures. Many expect to experience worse outcomes than their parents did. Their concerns about climate change, economic instability and rising global conflicts will be reflected in the choices they make about raising families. It is not uncommon for young people to feel cheated – to believe that their futures have been robbed from them by policymakers impervious to their lived realities. In many countries, the growing percentage of older persons skews electoral influence in their favour, often at the expense of young people. As a result, “political leaders bound by the time horizon of an election cycle tend to serve an older clientele, rather than focus on reforms that are necessary for the younger and future generations” (UNFPA, 2025d). Leaders concerned about population trends would be wise to listen to these voices and to pursue policies centred on the concept of intergenerational fairness. This requires fostering solidarity between generations and embracing a life-course approach, which can ensure young people are empowered to meaningfully participate in their communities while also meeting the growing needs of ageing persons. One promising example is the Y-ACT initiative in Kenya, which has empowered young people to shape sexual and reproductive health and rights policy and budgeting decisions at the county level, leading to increased investment in adolescent friendly health services and meaningful youth participation in governance (UNFPA, 2023a).Young people who feel hopeful about the future are more likely to pursue the lives they want for themselves and their families. As one youth activist, responding to a UNFPA questionnaire, shared, “Young people are not just thinking about their future children – they are thinking about the world those children will inherit”. History also offers a clear remedy: The Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development. A close read of this important document actually highlights solutions to many of the challenges facing the world today: It called for “family-sensitive policies in the field of housing, work, health, social security and education in order to create an environment supportive of the family”. It insisted upon “the equal participation of women and men in all areas of family and household responsibilities, including family planning, child-rearing and housework”. It called for “family leave for men and women so that they may have more choice regarding the balance of their domestic and public responsibilities” (UNFPA, 2014).That 30-year-old agreement even foresaw many of the issues that are today regarded as novel: The ageing of society and the need to help “families to take care of elderly people”, the importance of laws and policies that reflect the “plurality of forms” the family can take, and the need for greater “assistance from third parties” to help parents reconcile their work and family lives. And, most memorably, it forged a global consensus that couples and individuals should have the information and the means to decide freely and responsibly on the number, spacing and timing of their children. This must remain our goal, regardless of a nation’s fertility rate, for all people, everywhere.

A world that we can be proud for the next generation to inherit. Download the full 2025 State of World Population report below.