New Delhi, May 18: Smartphones have been identified as a key factor behind the decline in the global birth rate. Experts and economists at the University of Notre Dame stated that digital leisure is replacing in-person socialization, as young adults are spending significantly less time meeting, dating, and forming long-term romantic relationships.
Economists Nathan Hudson and Hernan Moscoso Boedo, in their research, showed that teen fertility in the United States has collapsed by about 71 percent since 2007, with the sharpest and earliest declines occurring in countries that gained high-speed mobile internet access first.
Fertility rates have plummeted across diverse countries, from wealthy nations such as the United States and the United Kingdom to developing economies in Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East, in a remarkably synchronized pattern. The Financial Times reported that this “demographic landslide” accelerated sharply in recent years, with many countries witnessing fertility rates drop 20–40 percent below previous trends as smartphones and high-speed mobile internet became widespread.
A similar trend was recorded in France and Poland in 2009, and later in Mexico, Morocco, and Indonesia in 2012. In Africa, fertility rates began declining between 2013 and 2015. These changes corresponded with a steady increase in smartphone sales over time.
“To meet the person you’re getting married to, you need to filter out a lot of people. If you socialize a lot less, it takes you longer to find a mate — if you find one at all,” explained demographer Lyman Stone.
The expert also stressed that when communicating with peers in real life, standards for choosing a partner are formed based on the real world rather than artificial ideas about what is considered normal.
The Financial Times further reported that fertility trends in countries such as the United States, Great Britain, and Australia remained relatively stable during the early 2000s. However, in 2007, birth rates among young people began to decline sharply alongside the rapid spread of smartphones and mobile internet access.
