The UN Population Fund (UNFPA), in its new report, revealed that millions of people are being denied the freedom to start families due to high living expenses, conflicts, and a lack of compatible partners, not because they reject parenthood.
UNFPA, in its 2025 State of World Population report, “The Real Fertility Crisis: The Pursuit of Reproductive Agency in a Changing World”, indicates that the world is not facing a crisis of falling birth rates but rather a crisis of reproductive agency.
Executive Director of UNFPA, Dr Natalia Kanem, said vast numbers of people are unable to create the families they want and linked the issue to lack of choice, not desire, with major consequences for individuals and societies.
According to Dr Kanem, “That is the real fertility crisis, and the answer lies in responding to what people say they need: paid family leave, affordable fertility care, and supportive partners.”
The report, which includes a UNFPA-YouGov survey of 14,000 respondents across 14 countries, including Nigeria, found that alarmingly high proportions of adults are unable to realise their fertility intentions due to economic and social barriers.
Other countries surveyed include India, Brazil, Morocco, South Africa, Indonesia, Mexico, Italy, Thailand, Hungary, the United States, Sweden, the Republic of Korea, and Germany.
The mixture of low-, middle- and high-income countries — and those with both low and high fertility rates — was selected to represent “a wide variety of countries with different cultural contexts, fertility rates and policy approaches.”
According to the report, nearly 20 per cent of reproductive-age adults believe they will be unable to have the number of children they desire, and nearly a third have experienced an unintended pregnancy.
In addition, 39 per cent reported that financial limitations had affected or would affect their ability to realise their desired family size, while nearly one in five said fears about the future — such as climate change, environmental degradation, wars and pandemics — had led or would lead to them having fewer children than desired.
Also, nearly 25 per cent have felt unable to fulfil their desire for a child at their preferred time, but only 12 per cent of people cited infertility or difficulty conceiving as the reason for not having the number of children they wanted.
That figure was higher in countries like Thailand (19 per cent), the US (16 per cent) and South Africa (15 per cent).
Notably, young people overwhelmingly report worries and uncertainty about their futures. Many expect to experience worse outcomes than their parents did. Their concerns about climate change, economic instability and rising global conflicts are reflected in the choices they make about raising families.
The report warns against simplistic or coercive responses to declining birth rates — such as baby bonuses or fertility targets — noting that these policies are largely ineffective and can violate human rights.
UNFPA urged governments to empower people to make reproductive decisions freely, including by investing in affordable housing, decent work, parental leave, and the full range of reproductive health services and reliable information. Other solutions include expanding access to parenthood for LGBTQI+ and single people.
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