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Beyond fertility: Unpacking why young adults are delaying or declining parenthood
View(s):This article argues that the perceived ‘fertility crisis’ is not a matter of young adults’ disinterest in having children, but rather a pragmatic response to significant societal barriers, including financial insecurity, housing costs, childcare challenges, gender inequality, and anxieties about the future, all of which require systemic policy solutions rather than stand alone interventions.
By Kunle Adeniyi, Representative – UNFPA Sri Lanka
Around the world, and here in Sri Lanka, the conversation is heating up about what many are calling a ‘fertility crisis’. Fertility rates are falling, and governments are getting anxious. Sri Lanka’s fertility rate has dropped to 1.9 children per woman, the lowest it has reached in its history. National headlines warn of ‘population decline’, ‘a looming crisis due to a shrinking workforce,’ and accuse the young generation of not prioritising having children. Yet, no one is asking the younger generation if they want to have children, and if so, what is stopping them.
Young Sri Lankans in their 20s and 30s are completing their higher education, starting their careers, exploring romantic relationships, and, if conditions are right, deciding to get married and become parents. They are a generation who have experienced the COVID pandemic, economic volatility, record-high inflation and stagnant wages. On top of this, they are seeing the impacts of climate change disrupt their livelihoods, while geopolitical conflicts from Ukraine to Gaza, and other parts of the world disrupt global markets and heighten uncertainty and fears about the world they will bring their children into. Their hesitation to have children is a pragmatic choice.
Globally, there is evidence that the younger generation wants to have children but feels unable to do so. UNFPA’s recent global survey of 14,000 people across 14 countries found that one in 5 people under age 50 expect to end up with a family size different from their ideal, and most expect they will have fewer children than desired.
Why are they hesitating? We asked close to 60 young people about this at a youth consultation on the 9th of July at the National Youth Services Council. Four barriers consistently emerged.
Financial limitations – The cost of living has doubled since 2021. Food, housing, transport and utilities have risen much faster than income. In 2025, National Consumer Price Index (NCPI) estimates the increase in the general price of food and non-food items by 107.5% in comparison to 2021. Real wages for the Public sector declined from 90.6 in 2019 to 75.6 in 2024, and for the informal private sector, it fell from 101.0 in 2019 to 88.0 in 2025. Families are resorting to negative coping mechanisms, which are impacting their health and well-being. For instance, child malnutrition and stunting increased from 7.4 to 9.2% between 2021 and 2022. For young couples, having another child could mean sacrificing the nutrition, education, health, and well-being of the household.
Housing costs – The dream of owning a house is getting further and further away. While the demand for housing has increased, supply has lagged, putting pressure on pricing and making housing unaffordable for many. Many are renting houses, but with rental hikes, they are forced to endure low-quality housing conditions or opt to live far from their workplace and school.
Childcare challenges, harmful social norms and gender inequality – Quality childcare services are limited and costly, and this is pushing young mothers to choose between motherhood and a career. Social norms dictate that women bear an unfair load of care and domestic duties, as women still spend 25 per cent of their day on unpaid care, versus 7 per cent for men. Employers continue to offer restrictive workplaces. Only 30.3 per cent of women participate in the labour force, mainly due to a lack of flexible work options, limited maternity benefits, and a complete lack of paternity leave. These conditions make it difficult for women to balance work and family responsibilities.
Kunle Adeniyi
Worries about the future – Fears about job security, climate change, disasters, conflicts, pandemics, and health concerns such as chronic kidney disease, particularly affecting rural youth, are making them think twice about having children.
What do they want? They want to be heard. They want a seat at the table to be engaged in policy decisions that affect their future. They want financial stability, affordable housing and care (childcare and elderly care) and economic opportunities.
Cash incentives will not fix the ‘fertility crisis’. Russia and South Korea offered financial incentives and have seen only temporary increases in fertility, with long-term fertility rates remaining low. Sweden, France, and Belgium, which adopted comprehensive, rights-based family policies, high-quality, affordable childcare, and parental leave, have successfully addressed fertility trends. These approaches didn’t directly target fertility rates; instead, they built a society where having and raising children was a supported choice, not a barrier to personal or professional aspirations.
So what can we do?
We need to design and implement evidence-based policies.
Make starting a family affordable: It is important to focus on economic growth that can boost incomes. Learning from the success of East Asian countries in raising income while maintaining the cost of living at an affordable level, Sri Lanka too will benefit from focusing on export-led growth, low-interest first-home loans and regulating the rental market.
Invest in quality child and elderly care: Ensuring availability of quality care services is essential for building human capital, ensuring the well-being of the families and enabling women to participate in paid economic activity. Lessons from Sweden offer models for integrated care policy which allow seamless transition from parental leave and balanced care responsibilities that align with working hours. Sri Lanka should learn from global experience to design and implement a localised integrated care policy.
Ensure family-friendly workplaces: We should actively foster flexible labour markets that genuinely allow parents to reconcile their work and family lives. Policies need to offer flexible working hours, remote work options where feasible, and accessible, well-compensated parental leave for both mothers and fathers. For example, in Iceland, strong parental leave policies for fathers have significantly boosted male involvement in childcare, leading to more equitable career paths for women.
Promote norm change and sharing of care and domestic duties: Policy makers should consider public awareness campaigns to utilise mass media, social influencers, and community leaders to depict men actively participating in childcare, cooking, and household chores, normalising these roles and demonstrating the strength and joy in shared responsibilities. School curricula could also integrate concepts of gender equality and shared care from a young age, shaping future generations.
Improve choice and access to SRH services: Strengthening the network of Public Health Midwives (PHMs) with additional training and resources, leveraging digital health solutions for discreet access to information and appointments, and ensuring uninterrupted supply chains for contraceptives and essential medicines, particularly in underserved region should be prioritised in the National Health Policy. Regulations with ethical safeguards for Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART), adoption and surrogacy would also give individuals more paths to family formation.
The benefits of these policy initiatives will go beyond supporting the younger generation to have the family they want. It will increase women’s economic participation and support sustainable economic growth. It will help to close the gender gap in wages and economic, social and political participation, and create a more equal society. Improving choice and access to SRH services will ensure reproductive agency and support all those who want to have a family achieve their desire.
So, this World Population Day, let’s stop asking why the younger generation isn’t having more children and start asking, what do they need to build the families they desire? It’s time to move from blaming individuals to fixing our systems. Let’s work towards giving them real options, so that not only will they have what they want, but the country will also benefit from inclusive and sustainable development.
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