In a world of kinetic wars and increasing expenditure on defence and security — coupled with the culture wars so exacerbated by the extremes of left and right — we often forget, or probably ignore, the wider context of bombs and ideologies: people. A majority needs an opposition, leaders need followers and armies need soldiers: nothing happens without people. And in many parts of the world humans are diminishing in numbers, rapidly. Indeed, apart from most parts of Africa, no continent any longer attains the 2.1 replacement rate of fertility.
The United Nations Population Fund (UNPFA) just released an important report on this reality: The Fertility Fallacy. Based upon 14,000 interviews in 14 countries on four continents, the report presents fascinating insights on the roles of income, expectation and the inadequacy of policies seeking to either boost fertility or blame one of the genders (usually women). At base, it suggests people are not irrational: if they feel insecure, and the choice is in their hands, they will have less babies.
The core problem is, of course, the future: who will work to pay for the ageing populations? Who will inhabit the earth? How can we deal with these issues and changes better? ELN Senior Associate Fellow, Ilana Bet-El, is joined by someone very well placed to provide a comprehensive picture, Birgit Van Hout, Director of the UNFPA Representation Office to the European Union. In her role, she not only deals with these issues daily, but does so on the continent with the lowest overall fertility rate.
An important and lively discussion on the underpinning realities of our lives and societies, in the most basic and crucial sense.
This episode was recorded on 12 June 2025
Chapters
- Can women really have it all?
- Why are women having fewer children than they want?
- The real crisis behind the demographic decline
- How COVID, war and media affect younger generations
- The backlash against women’s rights and roles
- What is comprehensive sexuality education — and why it matters?
- What solutions are there to the fertility crisis?
Mentions
- The Fertility Fallacy: UNFPA report
- New York Times article on the report
- Fertility Europe
- EU Work-life balance directive
- EU youth check
- EU 2025 Gender Equality report
- Giles Merritt book: Timebomb
Follow
- Birgit Van Hout LinkedIn X/Twitter
- Instagram @women_leaders_podcast
- Ilana Bet-El
Credits
- Production: Florence Ferrando
- Music: Let Good Times Roll, RA from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/ra/let-good-times-roll License code: ZXIIIJUU2ISPZIJT
The European Leadership Network itself as an institution holds no formal policy positions. The opinions articulated above represent the views of the authors rather than the European Leadership Network or its members. The ELN aims to encourage debates that will help develop Europe’s capacity to address the pressing foreign, defence, and security policy challenges of our time, to further its charitable purposes.
Image credit: Florence Ferrando
