Translated with AI
Many countries in Europe and Central Asia are now experiencing rapidly declining birth rates, ageing populations, and an outflow of young people. In response, there are calls for higher birth rates and demographic incentives. However, as the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) State of World Population 2025 report points out, behind the demographic statistics lies another, much more fundamental crisis: a crisis of reproductive freedom.
UNFPA says millions of people around the world are unable to have as many children as they want – or are faced with unplanned pregnancies.
UNFPA, together with the research company YouGov, conducted a survey of more than 14,000 people from 14 countries, including Hungary and Germany. The results of the study show significant discrepancies between what they want and what they achieve: about a third of respondents (32 percent) have experienced an unplanned pregnancy, and almost a quarter (23 percent) have experienced the inability to have a child at the desired time. At the same time, 31 percent of adults over 50 reported that they have fewer children than they would like to have.
The most common barrier to having children was financial constraints, cited by 39 percent of respondents. Other important reasons included lack of suitable housing (19 percent), job instability (21 percent), and fear of the future – including wars, pandemics, and environmental disasters (19 percent).
Problems in personal relationships are also significant: 14 percent of respondents reported that the absence of a partner prevented them from having as many children as they would like. In addition, 10 percent noted the partner’s weak involvement in upbringing and household responsibilities. Moreover, this factor was mentioned more often by women (13 percent) than by men (8 percent).
The decline in fertility among young women is observed all over the world, including in Eastern Europe, where a sharp decline in fertility was recorded in the 1990s due to delayed motherhood. However, late childbearing does not always compensate for the losses – this requires a stable socio-economic base and effective family policy.
The report notes that the decline in fertility began in the 20th century and continues in many regions, including Asia and Eastern Europe. This process is not unexpected, but the result of long-term trends that states could have foreseen but failed to prevent. For example, although Kazakhstan, like other Central Asian countries, still maintains above-average fertility, fertility dynamics are already declining.
According to the report, economic barriers are identified as the main reasons why families cannot realize their reproductive aspirations. In many countries, such as Moldova and Ukraine, especially after the 1990s, the decline in fertility was accompanied by emigration, economic decline and instability. People did not give up children by choice; they were put off by the lack of necessary conditions.
However, successful initiatives are already emerging in the region. In Moldova, for example, the Panilino bakery introduced a family-oriented policy, including flexible working hours and a day care center for children. This allowed employee Anastasia Aslan to decide to have a fourth child – an example of how support for parents in the workplace can influence demographic decisions. Management notes that after the introduction of such measures, staff turnover dropped to zero and productivity increased.
The authors of the report emphasize that the focus on birth statistics often distracts attention from the main thing – from the rights and needs of people. The modern birth crisis is not "few children", but "little freedom". People are deprived of the opportunity to build families the way they want.
Reproductive freedom, according to the report, means the ability to make independent and informed decisions about having children. This requires not only access to contraception and health services, but also economic stability, gender equality, quality social services and confidence in the future.
The report calls for a move away from demographic alarmism and towards focusing on what matters most: asking people what they want and creating the conditions that enable them to achieve it.
For countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, this means not just expanding payments or encouraging large families, but a deep systemic reform aimed at protecting the rights and real needs of the population. In particular, this includes sustainable investment in reproductive health, affordable housing, employment, fair sharing of household responsibilities, as well as protection from violence and discrimination.
"The real fertility crisis is that millions of people are unable to realise their desires – not because they do not want children, but because they cannot afford them," the report says.
“Before I bring a child into this world, I will have to fight for the right to do so on my own terms – for same-sex marriage, for surrogacy, for adoption rights and recognition of parental rights in the country where I come from. Because this is not just my fight. This is the fight of billions of young people trapped in systems that deny them the rights and dignity they deserve,” says Roman, 26, from Azerbaijan.
UNFPA emphasizes that recognizing and ensuring the reproductive autonomy of all people, regardless of age, gender, marital status or country of residence, is key to demographic sustainability and a just future.
