Young people across rich countries are putting off having children because they can't afford them, and that's bad news for economies that need workers to pay for a fast-growing wave of retirees.

• Surveys show most people in their teens and 20s still want two kids — they just don't think they can pay for them.
• Housing is the biggest blocker: a home cost about two years of income in 1970 and roughly six times income today, pushing first-time buying in the US to around age 40.
• Work is shakier too — many young workers now rely on gig jobs with no steady pay and no company health insurance, and employers are already cutting entry-level roles to use AI.
• The money went to older generations: boomers held about a fifth of national wealth by their mid-30s, while Gen Z and millennials together hold about a tenth, and retirees still get far more government support than the young.
• Cash handouts don't fix it — the Nordic countries offer some of the world's most generous parental leave and their birth rates keep falling anyway.

Outlook: Birth rates look set to keep dropping until housing gets cheaper and young workers see a stable future, leaving countries like South Korea and much of Europe with far fewer workers per retiree by 2050.