Officials and commentators across several continents are warning that fertility rates are falling faster than previously projected, intensifying concerns about long-term labour shortages and pension strains. In Russia, Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova told lawmakers that the number of women of reproductive age is on track to drop to 27 million by 2046, compared with 34 million today and 39 million in 2006. She described the figures as evidence that the country is already on “a declining trajectory of the core reproductive group.” The United States is grappling with a similar trend. The national birth rate sits near 1.6 children per woman, well below the 2.1 needed to keep the population stable. Entrepreneur Elon Musk called the situation a “baby crisis,” noting the rate has remained under replacement levels for roughly five decades. The White House is reportedly examining incentives such as one-off cash payments to parents in an effort to reverse the slide. Demographic pressures are spreading worldwide. Analysts in India, China and parts of Europe say their own populations are nearing or already below replacement levels, while new United Nations research attributes much of the decline to financial insecurity rather than changing personal preferences. Demographers warn that without a sustained rebound in fertility—or sizeable increases in immigration—countries risk shrinking workforces, higher dependency ratios and slower economic growth in the decades ahead.