The news that the UK’s fertility rate has hit the lowest level since records began has prompted dire predictions of a “silver tsunami” of elderly people engulfing hospitals and crippling the economy. This same panic surfaces every few years: the latest trigger being the failure of the pandemic to lead to a baby boom, despite couples being thrown together more than usual. Familiarity breeds contempt, it seems, rather than babies.
The ageing of the world is one of the biggest stories of our time. Not only are we living longer, but that trend is accelerated by what I call the death of birth: plummeting birth rates in almost every country outside sub-Saharan Africa. With more adults aged 65 and over on the planet than children aged five and under, we are going to have to rethink work, welfare, and the meaning of family. For who will care for us when we are very old, if we don’t have children?