What can men do to help fix the crisis of low birthrates?

Surveys show men are far more likely to want children and have pronatal beliefs than women. Yet women have ultimate control over childbearing. What can guys do to help solve this problem?

First, a look at the difference: A 2023 Pew survey found 57% of childless young men but only 45% of childless young women said they want children.

A new YouGov poll found that men are much more worried than women about low birthrates, across all categories. What can men do?

The most important thing young men can do in support of pronatalism is to aim for marriage. A popular blogger just wrote about men who 'sabotage women's fertility' by dragging things out instead of committing. She has a great point.

Married men are happier too, so marriage is great for most men's personal wellbeing. Some men fear marriage because it could end up in divorce, but surveys show that divorced men are similar in happiness to never married men.

So, the upside greatly exceeds the downside!

Next is education. Far more women than men go to college these days. This education mismatch contributes to lower rates of partnership.

Men increase their marriage odds by getting a college degree. Relatedly, a Finnish study found that more educated men have more kids!

Next is income. For men, higher income is increasingly associated with having more kids. Men hoping for families would do well to develop their career.

When Catherine Ruth Pakaluk studied women who have five or more children, she found that they were often married to high-earning men!

Next is helping with housework and childcare. A 2022 study by Doepke et al. entitled “The Economics of Fertility” found that in countries where men contribute more with chores and childcare, women tend to have more kids.

Women in the US and in most countries around the world have an ideal number of children that is higher than what they actually end up with as this now-familiar chart by The Institute for Family Studies shows.

The biggest hurdle from the perspective of women? A dearth of "quality" men. More men with education, strong income and a willingness to help at home will mean more women having children.

Meanwhile, those who can see what is happening can have a big positive impact by building awareness of the birth dearth. For this crisis to turn around, more people will have to see what we see.