Economic insecurity rather than waning desire for parenthood is driving fertility rates below replacement levels across much of the world, according to the United Nations Population Fund’s State of World Population Report 2025. A survey of 14,000 adults in 14 countries found that 54% cited the cost of living, housing and job uncertainty as the primary reasons they are delaying or forgoing children. Health concerns accounted for another 24%, while 19% said anxiety about geopolitical or environmental risks influenced their decision. The report warns that vast numbers of people are unable to form the families they want, framing the issue as a crisis of reproductive choice rather than one of declining interest in child-rearing. "The issue is lack of choice, not desire," UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem said, urging governments to expand paid family leave, affordable childcare and fertility care instead of turning to coercive population policies. Country-level data underscore the trend. In Mexico, 21% of adults have fewer children than they would like because of economic precarity and limited support, while in France policymakers and the National Academy of Medicine are debating tax breaks and childcare subsidies to counter a record slide in births. UNFPA cautions that without measures that make parenting affordable and compatible with modern work patterns, demographic pressures on economies will intensify.