Couples in Australia are debating whether or not to have children as the cost of living continues to increase with no end in sight and housing prices continue to rise.
Others are concerned about their children’s safety as a result of climate change, or they don’t want to contribute to world overpopulation.
In May, the consumer price index increased by 5.1 percent, including a 13.7% increase in transportation expenses, a 6.7 percent increase in fruit and vegetable prices, and a 6.2 percent increase in meat prices.
Even though the fuel excise was reduced, petrol prices are still above $2 a litre, and a doubling of power bills implies an extra $118.67 per month in expenses.
Property prices have risen by 35% when the pandemic began, and by considerably more in the last decade, with a 0.5 percent interest rate hike to 0.85 percent on Tuesday making them even more unaffordable.
Meanwhile, Russia has been invading Ukraine for three months, China is becoming more assertive, and climate change is already causing catastrophic weather.
‘Hyper-inflated property prices, rising mortgage rates, a head of lettuce costing $10, insane gasoline prices, and no pay rises to offset what’s going on… ‘Does anyone else feel that they can’t have children no matter how much they want to?’ a lady questioned on Reddit.
‘I’ve always been on the fence, but I recently had a talk with a friend who was crying because she feels like she’ll never be able to take the time off work she’d need to raise a child and still pay her home.’ My heart has been broken.’
Another person claimed that Australia’s ‘obsession’ with buying homes to raise families, along with growing property costs, resulted in fewer children being born.
‘A lot of individuals I know in their mid-30s desire children, but they’re more concerned about housing and income.’ They are now ready, however due to their age, they are having additional pregnancy concerns,’ they stated.
A third said having children was out of the question since they couldn’t envision good savings or super in their future.
‘Unless I meet someone wealthy,’ she says. They wrote, “I hope to be in a position to adopt when I have stable housing and work, but I don’t really work in an area where it is possible.”
‘I can barely afford to maintain myself at the present,’ commented another. Even if I wanted to, I have no chance of having a family.
‘Besides, even if money were not an issue, I would not want to bring children into this world.’ It’ll very certainly get worse for them.’
More individuals blamed rising rents and high property costs for making it difficult for young people to acquire a home.
‘Because of the high cost of living, most people in my age bracket of 25-35 would never be able to buy a property unless they secure a low-interest loan from their parents’ bank,’ one wrote.
‘Rental expenses are so high that I know some families who miss meals and simply feed their children a slice of bread with honey on it or nothing at all.’
Others simply do not want to have children only to see them face the consequences of what they fear will be catastrophic climate change.
Thousands of women were polled by climate change organization 1 Million Women and the Australian Conservation Foundation to find out what they thought about environmental changes.
According to the study of 6,500 adults, 33.4 percent of women under 30 are concerned about having children because they are concerned about the planet’s future.
Felicity Lochhead, 28, expressed concern about the effects humans are having on the world and expressed apprehension about bringing a child into the rapidly deteriorating scenario.
‘I’m at the point in my life where everyone wants to know when we’re going to have kids,’ she explained.
Ms Lochhead and her 30-year-old husband, Hayden, live in Illawarra, which is located south of Sydney.
The pair claimed they were attempting to strike a compromise between their desire to start a family and the effects of climate change.
‘I’m always learning about and focusing on the harm we’ve done and continue to inflict.’ ‘It’s depressing,’ she expressed her feelings.
‘I am terrified of having children, even though I believe I would be a wonderful mother… I’m at a loss for what to do.’
Rachael Schnurr, 32, and her husband Dan, 35, live in Michigan, USA, and have talked about starting a family but ‘lean more and further away from it every year.’
‘A big biological family was originally our aim,’ she told Daily Mail Australia, ‘but things have altered.’
One of the factors they considered, according to Ms Schnurr, was not wanting to contribute to overpopulation.
‘Right now, we figure we’re fine, and if we ever really wanted kids, we’d rather adopt since it’s better for the earth in so many ways,’ she explained.
‘It was difficult to think about it any other way until we started to actually think about how stupid it is to keep reproducing on this overburdened earth.’
Nearly 100 people responded to the Reddit thread, with the majority agreeing that raising children in this economy is difficult.
‘Our declining birthrate implies that most Australians either don’t want to have children or want to but can’t because it’s too expensive,’ a woman said.
‘Or it implies that people place a higher value on quality of life.’ People want a job, vacations, and spare time, among other things. Another person remarked, ‘Kids have a significant impact on that.’
Another woman suggested that hormones, not any desire to be a mother, were driving the desire to have children.
‘I’ve noticed, and have spoken to a few other childless women, that the desire to have children fades.’ ‘I had that feeling in my mid-twenties, but it was gone by the time I was 35, so I chalk it up to hormones rather than a genuine desire,’ she said.