The baby bust and the gender gap

Young women in rich countries are becoming more and more liberal and show less and less interest in children

So much for the maternal instinct.

Buried in a national poll from late 2023 is a stunning finding: American women are much less worried about falling fertility rates than men. Fewer than one in three women said they were concerned about the trend, compared to 43 percent of men.

The data, from the respected American Family Survey, an annual study of 3,000 …