Blythe Terrell

Hi, I'm Blythe Terrell filling in for Wendy Zuckerman, and you are listening to Science Versus.

This is the show that pits facts against falling fertility.

Today, we're talking about the claim that people are having fewer and fewer babies and that it could be bad news for humanity.

We've actually been hearing about this fear for years, but recently it has made its way to the White House.

Vice President J.D.

Vance has gone in on this, too.

And it's not just the US.

This idea that people need to have more babies has been popping up all over the world with headlines about low birth rates in parts of Europe.

China, which famously had a policy limiting couples to one child only, has done a 180.

Meanwhile, in the U.S., there's actually a whole movement building around this of people called pro-natalists.

And they seem to have the ear of President Trump.

Some of the proposals we're hearing about to get more babies include stuff like $5,000 cash bonuses for parents, classes to teach women about their menstrual cycles, and even a grand prize for the most fertile among us.

A national medal of motherhood for women with six or more children.

So there's a few reasons that people are eager to turn this around.

Like, we hear that a baby bust will totally mess up society and potentially tank the economy.

And we also hear that it's actually an existential problem, that we might even be on our way to extinction as a species.

So today we are asking, is that right?

How worried should we be about this?

And if you want to boost fertility rates, how do you do it?

But then there's science.