Comment by silverquiet
1 year ago
One issue I see with that theory is that America has been a bit of a holdout on fertility - I believe it has been fairly high amongst developed nations, though it has been in decline along with nearly every other country. I've read that fertility and religiosity are fairly well correlated, and the US has also historically been a bit of an outlier there, though religion is also in decline. I think that would be squarely in the realm of culture.
I doubt that anyone can really say what the cause is at a societal and ultimately global level; I can only really know my own reasons.
Yes, I don't think there's a single factor you can blame, but I suspect there are dominant causes and then particular circumstantial causes. I.e., while the bulk of low fertility can be the result of the same general attitude toward life (what life is about, expectations, etc), factors particular to a given population can nudge the TFR in one direction or the other.