Comment by WheelsAtLarge

The bottom line, it's too expensive to have kids in most industrialized countries. We've gotten used to the 2 income lifestyle which makes it hard to have kids and have 2 parents working at the same time. A couple may be able to deal with 2 while having both parents work but not more kids than that. We can also add that it's very expensive to buy a house now so apartments and such are becoming the norm in large cities which adds to the difficulties of having multiple children. Additionally, birth control has to have an impact on the population growth. There are way fewer accidental pregnancies than ever before. It's now easier than ever to plan for the number of kids a couple wants. So it's 1, 2 maybe 3 but it is less likely to be 5,6,7. Lastly, society as a whole puts shade on the idea of having a large family. I've seen it often. A couple with a large number of kids is often ridiculed or shamed for being irresponsible for having too many kids. If we want to get to a 2+ replacement average, large families are a must but large families are a thing of the past. Society as a whole will need to radically change to bring them back.