In certain regions across the globe, having babies late in life has become common among couples.
One driving factor behind this tendency is economic pressure. Historically, population rise often occurred with economic advancement, as is seen in the baby boom after the World War II when vast economic potential and job opportunities were unleashed. People in these times favored childbirth because competition was low and their kids would secure a job when growing up. Today, things are much different. It has become ever more difficult in the contemporary time to climb up the social ladder to a higher social status. Young couples feel intense pressure to live a decent life themselves, and the stress of being unable to provide their children with the very best to keep up in the educational rat race put them in guilt. Consequently, they postpone their childbirth plan, and worse, give it up.
A mindset transition among young people is also in addition to the economical reason. To be specific, modern people have shifted from catering to social norms to self-centric. In the past, an individual was deemed an outlier if not following the same social pattern of getting married and having a child at a “right” age, especially in East Asian countries where social coherence is bond by family ties. Now, the Enlightenment philosophy has taught them to love and care themselves instead of catering to anyone else, let alone the abstract word “social norms”.
This phenomenon has given rise to some effects on society and family life. The most prominent one is aging, which has plagued advanced countries such as China and Japan that used to enjoy population dividend. Economy is slowed down by workforce shortage and market shrinkage in the wake of aging. Besides, late childbirth also makes us rethink family life. Couples in unhappy marriage are more inclined to divorce because family is not bound by children.
In summary, having babies late in life can be accounted for from economic feasibility and mentality shift. We should be cognizant of the consequences such as aging and divorce rate rise.