HackerTubewatch
Surprise me
Frame from Why Are Birthrates Plummeting Worldwide? Plays via YouTube's privacy-enhanced embed

Why Are Birthrates Plummeting Worldwide?

4 videos recommended on HN
YouTube
2 HN users recommended this commentary2 months2025–2026 score 2
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

HN users cite it as a data-rich look at falling fertility that points to declining coupling rather than people choosing fewer kids.

Patrick Boyle examines why birth rates are falling in nearly every country and argues the standard explanations do not hold up. He presents data suggesting fewer couples forming is a major driver.

“He makes the argument that declining birthrates are due more to a fall in coupling than a fall in people in relationships choosing to have kids.” (HN, 2026)

2 recommendations · 1 citations · Commentary

3 Hacker News comments

From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.

@derriz Dec 2025 Recommends
on HN thread How we lost communication to entertainment
Patrick Boyle eventually comes to a similar conclusion in his video about global population decline - [this video] - but includes lots of graphs and other interesting factlets. * warning for Americans: not suitable for those offended by sarcasm
Reaches similar conclusion on population decline with many graphs and facts.
@ndiddy Feb 2026 Recommends
on HN thread The US is flirting with its first-ever population decline
Read more
I watched this video a while ago that said something similar. [this video] The decline in birthrates isn't related to growing living standards, as poorer countries also have declining birthrates. Turkey has a lower birthrate than the UK, and Mexico has a lower birthrate than the US. Places like North Africa and South India have seen declines in birthrates comparable to the West. He makes the argument that declining birthrates are due more to a fall in coupling than a fall in people in relationships choosing to have kids. He brings up that birthrates would actually be increasing if marriage rates remained constant. This means that all the incentives countries push such as subsidized childcare or tax breaks to have kids are putting the cart before the horse, as a growing share of young people don't have a partner to have kids with to begin with. He then brings up that the fall in coupling a country experiences is roughly correlated to the rate of mobile internet usage in that country. 46% of American teens say they use social media "almost constantly" vs. 24% a decade ago. People would rather use social media than go out and meet others. He points to South Asia as an example, as it's experienced a relatively smaller decline in marriage rates, and mobile internet usage there is lower than in the rest of the world. I suppose it's yet another way that cell phones are impacting society.
Argues falling birthrates stem from fewer couples, correlated with mobile internet use.

Citations, criticism and jokes

Video list and Hacker News comment labels from HackerTube (prompted by @karpathy), released under ODC-By 1.0, built on the open-index/hacker-news archive. Hacker News data is provided by Y Combinator; comments remain the work of their authors. Video titles, channel names and thumbnails belong to their creators and are shown via YouTube. HackerTube Watch is an unofficial edition. Data export of 2026-10-31.

Keyboard shortcuts

/
Search
j k
Next / previous video
r
Surprise me
l
Like (video page)
w
Watch later (video page)
?
This help
Esc
Close