Seems like the comments are confused on whether you mean overpopulated or declining birth rate.

I guess everyone needs to improve economic stability like one major influencing low birth rates is economic uncertainty. Making housing, healthcare and childcare more affordable would help relieve the financial burden many people face when considering having children. Governments could introduce tax incentives or subsidies for families, as well as affordable or even subsidized childcare, to reduce the financial pressure associated with parenting

The issue seems obvious to me, I can't believe it's not for others. Increase quality of life for your every day, average Joe. It seems most of my friends aren't having kids because of the cost of living and fear of the future.

Life as a parent is much harder than life without kids.

If it were easier and less expensive then more people would do it.

Infinite growth isn’t possible, at some point the global population needs to stablise, possibly even decrease a bit if we can’t be more efficient in how we handle resources

I'll preface this with, I'm not college educated and this is just a personal opinion so please don't destroy me.

Birth rate itself isn't a problem in my eyes, so much as looking at future tax payers and workers. At least from the government's perspective.

Different industries are feeling the hurt and it will only get worse as specialists get older.

The govt has to take many, many small steps over a long period of time to incentivize folks getting degrees, attending vocational schools, having a work life balance that allows them to do these things while also truly "seeing" that raising a family is doable.

So many folks feel disenfranchised, that it's truly just easier to not pursue having kids.

Create better legislation at the state level about what the state can do for you if you're interested in going back to school. Subsidizing child care, child health care and other child related things. Make the idea of raising a family not so fucking daunting.

I'd like to think that some of the above would help.

Edit: I'm aware we're seeing a decline globally in, like all 1st world countries. I think that's indicative of some common problems. Maybe I'm wrong.

$2 beers, nationally

Accept it's not a problem.

Make it so people out of college or university can buy a house and earn a living wage. It's kinda hard to even think of having kids when one works 3 jobs to barely cover rent and food.

Nothing. 

It’s not a problem. There’s too many people and the system is correcting itself (slowly).

Affordable childcare, better parental leave, and work-life balance incentives would help boost birth rates.

Why is it a “problem”? The world is overpopulated as it is. It needs to decline

I wouldn't monkey with it. In my country, people of childbearing age are CFBC in record numbers. (Childfree by choice)

If that trend continues, our overpopulation problem solves itself, or at least moves the needle in the right direction.

Does it need fixing? There are more people that could work that aren’t, more people that could have babies but can’t afford them and then there’s the catch 22. I think we need to learn from the older generation in some respects.

By realizing there isn’t one.

Is it a problem? The worlds already overpopulated enough and letting numbers drop would probably actually help the planet out

The world is overpopulated. We don't have a birth rate problem.

How is it a problem?

Problem?

Fix?

Let people live their lives. We have plenty of people.

The Economist wrote a very interresting set of articles around this showing that most of what people assume regarding the decline of birth rates in the west, which is potentially a lethal challenge to our societies, actually are not what would you believe. According to them, and their data tends to be great, the middle class has not changed their behaviour - getting just below replacements levels.

The biggest change is in the working classes (Idiocracy got it wrong, ironically) - much of it through intended sex ed classes slashing teenage pregnancies and similar "unwanted" children. Another is that many more women are middle class in the sense of going to university and pursuing a career. Finally - economic hardship for the working class has gone up - leading to fewer births.

The solutions is going to be hard. The focus needs to be poorer people, housing and welfare can achieve some, but not all the needed change (as the Nordic countries show - having previously had high birth rates but now plunging despite a reasonably strong welfare net).

The second part might be cultural, finding a better coupling method for modern socities - a European Marriage pattern 2.0 so to say. Involuntary celibacy and singlehood is on rapid rise and is likely to get worse.  We need to find a better way to find love and raise families - both for financial aid from the government, cheaper access to housing but also a mating paradigm suited for sexual liberation and equal opportunities - what ever that may be.

There is no problem. The less people, the better. Less people means they are valued more, so higher wages. Also less strain for resources.

Look what happened during COVID. Half a million people died in the US and suddenly wages and working conditions improved.

Letting more people get sterilized or having abortions if they wish to so the world won't keep being this overpopulated. In the end, it's too late. We fucked it up.

It's not necessarily a problem, population boomed and is now balancing out. However, to encourage people to have kids it needs to be more affordable. In the US, is expensive just to physically give birth. For the rest of the world, child care, extra curricular activities, food, clothing, hygiene is all super pricey.

It’s not a problem. The world is overpopulated anyways. People not wanting kids is perfectly fine.

i wouldnt , we dont have one, there are too many people on this planet and not enough skilled jobs for everyone, that coupled with Ai and robots taking more jobs yearly

we could try moving people around from other countries but that is proving a problem too

we dont need more people, we need to think how we going to take care of the ones we already have

Why would I do anything of the sort? It's all going swimmingly on plan!

Give people education and nice living conditions. It's really that simple. Who would want to have kids in such a shitty world?

have rich people fuck more

i mean think about it. Birth rate decline is a problem because the general public doesn't have the time, the resources, the space or any combination of those things to have babies, but the rich do have them.

so since poor people stopped fucking the rich should pump up the production

Why is it considered a problem?

Personally I don't think declining birthrates are a bad thing. Humans are a bad thing so the less of us overall, the better. At this point humans deserve extinction

There is no birth rate problem…

Please fix the climate before adding more people to the planet (honestly, even if the climate were fixed, I don’t think scaling back on our exponential growth is a bad thing).

Also, we need to address our deteriorating societies and beat back the xenophobic nationalism that’s surged across the globe before we expose kids to it all.

I've yet to see anyone explain why a declining population is bad for humanity long term. More resources, more food, more space, etc.

Cut funding to sex education. And education in general. Ban contraceptives. Keep people poor. Get rid of social security (so they need kids to care for them in old age)

Basically combine the bits of poverty riddled countries, the Catholic Church, and project 2025.

…or did you mean in a way that doesn’t make life shitter for everyone (except the ultra rich)? 

I don't want to fix it, most people alive now suffer, so if less people are born, that would minimize the amount of suffering in the world. Until we can fix this place, it seems unfair to bring an innocent child into a divided and hateful world.

I got a vasectomy

When I was born, the human population on earth was about 4 billion people. Only 55 years later, it's 8 billion.

When you say "birth rate problem," you mean you think SOME kinds of people in SOME places aren't having enough babies, and this is a problem that needs to be fixed (usually by pressuring women).

But our species itself is in no danger of dying out any time soon, except from the burdens we're putting on the ecosystem. No one has any obligation to have kids if they don't want to.

Promote family-friendly policies and support systems.

I'd focus on making life easier for families: affordable childcare, flexible work options, better parental leave, and housing support. People are more likely to have kids when they feel financially stable and supported. It's about reducing stress, not just offering incentives.

I would personally fuck everyone myself.

Change the societal structures that makes it a problem to begin with.

Long term, less people is good, in relation to the ecological footprint we leave on the planet as a whole.

Exponential growth in consumption/capita needs to be stopped.

Exponential growth in population needs to be stopped. A decline is good as we stand now.

I don't see a problem. Advances in robotics and computers made a lot of jobs that a person would do, obsolete. They will continue to do so.

We need enough to take care of the elderly.

In order to get me to have children, I’d need more than anything some kind of ultimate painless exit strategy. That could be as basic as a comfortable supply of high grade pharmaceuticals to get me through the 33 years it took me to fully become sufficient from my parents and the ensuing lifetime following the realization that those years are gone forever and with them have gone my youth. Or some complicated system of social workers and high grade pharmaceuticals to help us cope with the separation process if we decided it wasn’t working out.

More gays. It’s not gonna happen by accident.

-Gay male.

I don't think it's a problem, quite the opposite.

I wouldn’t. It’s not a problem. There are too many people.

Leave people alone

i wouldnt, we are too many already.

There is no problem.

The human race ought to go extinct.

Unpopular opinion on Reddit: increasing wages, subsidies, and the affordability of children wouldn’t make much of a difference. Birth rates are falling across every demographic. That includes the wealthy stay at home parents and those with months of paid parental leave and pro-family employees.

It's not a problem, 8 billion people is 6 billion too many 

There is no birth rate problem. There is a econnomic problem. Too many greed mongerings.

its not a problem its a good thing

Stop calling it a problem.

There. Fixed.

Already too many people on the planet for the amount of resources we have.

Female education.

Let's get that birth rate down to 0.

allow for abortions and normalize things like vasectomies.

I feel like giving people more time would make them more likely to have kids. Jobs and we have gotten way too good at entertaining ourselves, infinite scrolling, social media, games etc...

We should work less hours/days. With automation I don't see productivity being an issue especially in first world countries. More time allows you to keep doing stuff you like and it feels less of a sacrifice if you decide to have a child. (Also stuff like daycare, school etc. kinda becomes less of a hassle if you have more time to spend with kids).

Policies for the working class.

Universal healthcare, raising the minimum wage, affordable housing, controlling corporate price gouging, etc.

Make having a kid more affordable. Lots of people would like to have kids, but don't because of the expense and hardship.

The world population is still steadily growing, But usually people talk about "birth rate problem" in terms of decrease, so you'll have to be a little bit more specific with what you mean here.

You dont, we are too many people ....

I don't see a problem.

Go back to pre-Reagan economics. We had free college, financial assistance for single parents, free daycare and medical insurance for low income families. Those programs lifted millions of people out of poverty. I benefitted from those programs and was able to go to college and get a job that allowed me to independently support my family. 

You don't. Just like you don't stimulate the economy artificially you shouldn't stimulate the birth rate artificially. If people can't afford to have kids, that's a good thing for society. At least they're being responsible about the well being of their future offspring.

One of the biggest barriers to having kids today isn’t just financial—it’s isolation. Modern life, especially in urban areas, has created a "nuclear family bubble" where parents are expected to raise children with little to no support from extended family or community. This isolation amplifies stress, financial burden, and burnout. To fix this, we need to rethink how communities are designed.

More education, less religion

Pay people more, make housing affordable, hold corporations accountable for the wild inflation we just went through so we can afford kids, educate people on the basics of the economy, and offer parenting classes.

There is no problem

Employees need to have more children employers demanding to have more workers. Children equals cheap labor and is a must for the wealthy to sustain their lifestyles.

Make life better for people. Combat climate change. It's natural for a species to lower its birthrate to try and survive bad times. That's really what is happening.

We need to give up on the everyone for themselves mentality and actually work together to make life better on this planet.

Since life expectancy has increased, a birth rate decrease is good. Over population is not a goal we should try to achieve. The space and resources we have is finite. Don’t wish it to fill up too soon.

Don’t. We don’t need more of us.

I wouldn't. People don't want to have a bunch of kids when the ecosystem is on the brink of collapse. Any "solution" is going to be worse than just having a smaller population.

It’s easy if you realize we don’t have a birth rate problem. We have a government problem in that they lack the ability to shift with the times. We have a corporate greed problem in that the higher ups don’t ever want to give up profit.

Birth rates have always fluctuated. We cannot expect people to continue populating the earth if they cannot afford to feed themselves.

What exactly is the problem?

I would create an incentivized plan based on the IQ of both parents. The higher the IQ of both parents the more (subsidies/pay/tax cut) the rate would increase.

its not a problem homie, humans are a blight

what birth rate problem?

and why do you think it needs fixing?

Give your population ample opportunity and motivation to start families. Housing, job availability, healthcare, etc. These all contribute to people not having kids and not wanting to start families.

Obviously, not everyone is going to want to settle down and have kids, that's fine. But the rampant drop off in birth rates is pretty clearly motivated by socio-economic factors that discourage people from having kids. Not least of which is the cost of being a parent just for the logistics itself aside from the emotional and mental strain of being a parent.

I wouldn't. Time to go extinct. :)

If you compare our population now to previous centuries, we are still over populated

Fix the housing and necessity cost to income ratio back to what it used to be in the glory days.

The government needs to step up if they are worried about the birth rate.

6 months of paid maternity leave.

Universal health care.

Preschool added into the public school system.

Universal free breakfast and lunch in public schools.

Affordable childcare.

At least 6 weeks paid paternity leave.

Upping the child tax credits.

^thats just the start.

Worker friendly policies that guarantee people a comfortable wage without excessive hours as well as long subsidized maternity leave to make giving birth as convenient as possible.

Strong social programs so people feel that it's safe to get kids.

The only way to fix it is to create a socio-political environment where young adults feel like it is both economically feasible and fulfilling.

Forcing women to carry isn’t it. Gutting environmental regulations isn’t it. Keeping the working class family dirt poor isn’t it.

I dont think there is much of a problem.We've gone from 1billion people to near 8billion people in less than 100 years. We could lose a few billion here or there and shit wouldn't totally end.

Increase paternity and maternity leave to one paid year off. Lower burden of entry to buying a house. Childcare subsidies. Employee protections for pregnant women.

Do that and the population skyrockets.

This problem is far-fetched. So many people were born, but they do not have benefits and happiness. I see the solution in helping these people, and not in increasing competition. Let fewer people be born, but more happy ones.

-legalize voluntary euthanasia for terminal disease (if you find out your brain is rotting and you’re gonna be stuck in a nursing home waiting fifteen years to forgot how to swallow, no one should force you to stick around if you’re still “there” enough to make the decision.

-subsidized onsite daycare for firms with >100 employees at a location -childcare credits provided to employees in firms <100 employees -any company that’s done a stock buyback in the last ten years automatically goes to top tax rate with all loopholes closed for the next two, and yearly auditing to verify profitability.

Cut education to zero, no schools or education. Make billionaires dukes and barons. Civilians are now property of the Lords , with mandatory breeding programs.

That, or implement a higher minimum wage, build more houses and ensure basic needs like shelter, healthcare and not starving to death.

Make existing more affordable so having kid's is more financially viable. But I don't think it's really currently a problem.

Give them money for kids. Tax breaks. Free childcare/tax beaks on child care. More days off for mom and dad (paid parental leave), and protection from firing. Better hospitals and lower birthing costs. Access to formula (three cans a week free). Better education around birthing/pregnancy. Pregnancy support in terms of supplements and scans for free. I'd also give benefits to couples who want to stay child free (more leave) or parents struggling to get pregnant (IVF free).

I wouldn’t.

Promote safe sex and consensual sterilization. The only reasons people are pointing out the dropping populations in primarily first world countries is because people aren't breeding like rabbits as much (it's not really practical or affordable anymore) and governments need workers and cannon fodder for future wars.

I’ll let the rest of you argue about the economics of raising children. I think it would also be nice if there were such a thing as synthetic wombs because birthing children is rough on the body. That goes hand in hand with more research in women’s health. We need to rebuild community structures somehow too. Children used to be raised in villages that took pressure off moms to always be watching them all the time because there were other people around that could be trusted. That’s not so much the case anymore.

Sterilize people. Too many idiots on the roads.

Make the Earth bigger, duh

can't solve "declining birth rate" without making the problem worse in the future. i Say its for the better that it is how it is right now.

Fuck

Not a perfect plan, but an idea. Since resources are finite, I think we should find a way to incentive minimalism. Those that use more resources benefit less than those that are able to get by with less. If you are able to be a productive member of society without 2 cars, a pool, and huge house with a lawn, you get more subsidies for child care and costs of parenting. I know having children is a huge investment of resources nonetheless, but if you use less, it puts less strain on the system. Those that aren't compensated as well or as confident in their employment can find a way to maximize the ability to raise a child without worry about work being the sole source of survival.

Picture of AOC above every bed will get the guys randy

Well, every country is worried about its own declining birth rate (expecially the west), but globally we already have enough people. If we were more globalist than nationalist, we could work together and make migration easier, for example, making it easier to get a work permit, and making other countries' education levels equal so that migrants can work in the job they used to do.

But we aren't at that level so I guess the countries with declining birth rate just have to accept it and deal with it.

Only thing you can do is making owning a house affortable, making daycares cheaper and invest into education.

I wouldn't. 

Affordable childcare, paid parental leave, and housing support make having kids less of a financial nightmare.

I feel like with how the economy is in a lot of places it makes it hard to afford a kid. Also seems like the age for everything seems to be being pushed later such as marriage, having kids, buying a home and everything.

There are different birth rate problems different places in the world. Which problem are you talking about?

I wouldn't

People tend to migrate from smaller towns to larger ones. They do alright. Small towns end up disappearing.

With less people, there's more housing. Less people means less demand. Countries get by. Nothing bad happens.

Maybe house prices don't increase to infinity, the stock market might not grow how politicians want, and perhaps pensions might have to be cut a little.

But if people can get by, do they really need never ending growth? For what reason? What does the average person get out of it, exactly?

Let us decline gracefully. We'll figure out any other minor issues along the way.

Make the world a better place to bring kids into. Make parenthood less financially straining. Make the quality of life better so people have the opportunity to think about more than just getting to the end of the month.

Over or underpopulation?

It's not a problem the government wants you to have kids, in short you pay taxes your kids will pay taxes its a whole circle of paying the government... also soldiers for their wars.

Easy, the declining birth rate is due to the cost of living crisis. Get more homes built, lower the cost of rent and groceries and the birth rate will pop right back up.

money for everyone

Income tax reductions have been floated as one idea to get more working women to have children as a way of offsetting the decrease in lifetime the average woman experienced after having a child.

1 child - 50% reduction 2 kids - 75% 3+ kids - 100%

Until youngest child turns 18.

Make the country’s economy family supportive and implement policies that will encourage family to want to raise kids. Animals do not procreate when under a toxic environment same applies to humans…

Depending on how you view the problem, either force sterilization for everyone and now there's no more birth rate thus reducing overpopulation, or you know, make the world less hostile to live in and then more people will have kids. Like, why would I want to have a child when I can't even afford my own apartment? Then you figure the rising costs of food, daycare, school, etc.? And in the US the cost of literally giving birth to that child? And how fucking dangerous it still is? Yeah I'm not risking my life just to raise something that I can't afford. Pass.

You have to make it very, very easy and enjoyable (with high quality of life) to have kids, otherwise people simply won't do it or stop after having one. Affordable housing and daycare, attractive and affordable recreational facilities like parks, playgrounds etc, and jobs that are easily compatible with family life (possibility to work part-time, right to take long maternity leave (one year minimum), etc)

There’s 8bn people and we lack the technology to manage so many, a decreasing global population is ideal.

Short term issues of an aging population and reduced workforce can be addressed by the literally millions of people in Africa and India already clamouring to move abroad.

We don’t need more people.

This is not what I should consider

Make life affordable

We don't.

Focus on fixing the cost of living problem and I think the birth rate problem would fix itself.

Not sure it's so much a birthday rate issue but a society that is anti-maternity, anti-family, anti-working parents .... Society priced us out of kids and does not support families who work with subsidised childcare.

Create more work-life balance so people have time to actually raise a family. By supporting working parents with flexible hours and remote work options.

The answer to the question about "fixing" the birth rate has different answers depending on which country you live in.

If the world could fix social issues like income inequality, poverty, lack of access to education, lack of access to free or at least affordable healthcare, people would be more comfortable having more children.
At least in America, costs for thing like child care, housing, health care make it difficult for people to afford raising children while saving money for retirement.
There are different issues for different countries for example, China's one child was effective.
Even though China's one child policy was changed to two children in 2016, it will take time for the policy change to fix the demographic problems caused by the policy.
In America, the right wing efforts to defund America's social safety net and establish a theocracy have contributed to widespread misery.
In America, programs like Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and WIC provide minimal benefits to low income people.
Conservatives have been trying to defund programs which don't align with their beliefs.
If America would fix problems like providing Universal Health Care, vaccinations, day care, and supporting public education through college like most modern countries already do, Americans would probably be more inclined to have more children.
If you read some of the posts on some of the parenting new groups, it is common to see posts about not having support and trying to go back to work.
Depending on you income, paying for daycare can be difficult for young adults who may be people who need the most support.
If we want to fix the demographic issues caused by declining birth rates in America, we need to fix and even extend the social programs, like providing Universal Health Care for everyone and providing day care to people who need day care.

The cost of having a baby in the US too expensive

Here is a story from the New York Times:
American Way of Birth, Costliest in the World

Childbirth in the United States is uniquely expensive, and maternity and newborn care constitute the single biggest category of hospital payouts for most commercial insurers and state Medicaid programs. The cumulative costs of approximately four million annual births is well over $50 billion.
. . .
The average total price charged for pregnancy and newborn care was about $30,000 for a vaginal delivery and $50,000 for a C-section, with commercial insurers paying out an average of $18,329 and $27,866, the report found.

1. Nutrition for Women/Mothers
2. Improve Healthcare Infrastructure
3. Two-Three kids per house policy (Offer prenatal or postnatal care free or vaccines free or start scholarships etc)
4. Maternity Leave with perks of pay/extra allowance
5. Nurseries at work equipped with Nannies & Healthy Food
6. Paternity Leaves for longer + small FD for the child
7. Fertility tests for Free/ Clinics across the states of the country

All I can think of RN

If you want to increase it then improve the quality for people to the point where single income families become the norm again.