Absolutely, we still have 3.6 million births per year, but the problem is teens and young adults. From the ages 15-19 the fertility rate is down 7% and it’s down 70% over the last two decades, meaning we’re telling people that are young not to have babies, to wait until they’re in a more stable life situation till they’re more financially secure, maybe they haven’t found the right partner.

To your point, by the way, you said before we came on the air something really really important: which is we also have the technology to say “okay wait, you’re still going to have a healthy child, you’re still going to be fine because we can support pregnancies much better than we ever have before.”

Of course I want to add to that some downsides: there’s a higher obesity rate that interferes with fertility, there’s a risk of poly cystic ovary and endometriosis, there are more overall medical problems and diets are worse and then we’re talking about all the chemicals in the environment, ultra-processed foods; you might want to have a kid, but maybe as you get older you might not be able to.

My wife by the way, when she was 36 years old was going to have our second kid and I said to her obstetrician “She must be your oldest patient,” he said “She’s my youngest patient.”

Dana, people are having kids in their 30s now, not their 20s. And again, that’s leading to one thing I want to point out: the replacement rate is down to 1.56. Meaning every couple is having on average 1.56 children in the United States. We need 2 or above to keep the population at the same amount.

Maybe you watched a different interview than the one linked, he sounds like he belongs on Fox.

He mostly focuses on the under 20 demographic, though later he also is concerned about under 30, but most of his response centers around the figures he cited exclusively about under 20.

It’s plainly clear he thinks we need a bit more irresponsibility in child rearing. He may not be personally interested in the age bracket, but he does absolutely want them getting pregnant.

Which on the surface of it is a way to get more people generally, but also a way to increase the particularly desperate labor pool that is ripe for exploitation in 15 years or so.

Upon further consideration, it actually creates a more desperate labor pool immediately. Instead of unattached 18 year olds that can spend a few years in university, you have teen parents that need to take care of things right now.