> The economic costs of having children at a replacement rate are simply too high.

Interesting, guess our cavemen ancestors were much smarter and more capable than us since that seemed easy for them.

Hint: Imagine cutting defense budget and foreign meddling in favor of supporting families at home. Genius idea right?

> We need universal childcare services

Birth rates have been falling worldwide, regardless of the level of government support. It's much more a matter of attitudes about having children.

> The economic costs of having children at a replacement rate are simply too high

Nope. My wife and I have 4 children, on a lower-middle-class income in the US. Your lifestyle choices matter a lot. If you want to have children, you can find a way to afford them.

> societies will need to radically overhaul their entire relationship to supporting parenthood in order to reverse this trend.

Absolutely impossible to do in the modern age, not just in India.

Everyone is set in their lifestyle.

This reason and cost of living crisis + AI + pollution + lack of any support whatsoever is causing this baby bust but govt thinks it van give a one time $ 300 money grant for the 3rd kid! It takes about $ 1.5k to get delivery done in a good hospital in the cities. Checkup and pre delivery costs are above $ 500 at the least over 8 months.

>but you'll won't solve the demographic crisis without them.

you won't solve it with them either. all of that feel good crap would bump the TFR of an average civilized country by 0.2. how can you have access to all the data in the world and still believe that the reasons are economical and not cultural?

Yeah I am not sure I will call that plumber or electrician which only works from home... some folks really live in bubbles, big or small