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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Kat Lay, Global health correspondent

Real reasons people do not have the number of children they want revealed in new report

A woman in traditional clothing walks in front of a mural that shows an older person and a baby.
An Aymara woman by a mural in Bolivia, where the fertility rate has fallen from 6.3 births per woman in 1960 to 2.5 in 2023, according to the World Bank. Photograph: Luis Gandarillas/EPA

Millions of people are prevented from having the number of children they want by a toxic mix of economic barriers and sexism, a new UN report has warned.

Factors such as the high cost of parenthood, job insecurity, expensive housing, concerns over the state of the world and the lack of a suitable partner stop people having the families they want, rather than any desire not to have children, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), said.

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