“Australians are becoming an endangered species.”
That was Elon Musk’s unsolicited take on Australia’s falling birthrate. Posting to X, the statement quickly ricocheted across the internet, with many Australians weighing in.
In fairness, Musk isn’t wrong that the country’s birthrate is falling. Australia’s fertility rate has dropped to around 1.48 births per woman, well below the replacement level of 2.1. America isn’t far ahead.
But branding this trend glibly as Australians being an “endangered species” misses something deeper and far more uncomfortable.
The birthrate isn’t rising for a reason. And while the broader economic implications aren’t great, the personal decisions being made, are, I believe, wholly understandable. Women aren’t confused about whether to have children, they’re making a rational decision not to.
The immediate responses to Musk’s comment reflected this. Maybe people just can’t afford kids anymore. Across platforms, including places like Reddit, the sentiment was consistent.
Housing is out of reach or unstable for way too many people and the situation is deteriorating. Entry-level house repayments now consume nearly 49 percent of a couple’s income. While homeownership for those aged 25-34 has dropped from 61 per cent to around 43 per cent over the past few decades.
Childcare costs are still astronomical, and groceries, insurance, schooling, and let’s not forget petrol, are all rising faster than wages. And for women, the financial hit of having a child remains disproportionately steep.
Ultimately women are rejecting the system that’s been built, in which having children is both expected and increasingly unaffordable.
But it’s not even just about money anymore. Something else has shifted, and as as single mum of two kids under six, I get it completely.
Women today are making decisions in a very different world. The manosphere has unearthed the worst of male impulses, leading to vulnerable and disenfranchised young men blaming women for their hardship en masse. The Victorian government deemed it such a risk to women’s safety that they created an entire ministry a fortnight ago to combat it.
Raising kids has always been hard, but raising them in a culture that feels increasingly hostile to women is something else entirely. There’s not a day that goes by where I don’t think about how I’ll navigate this with both my son and daughter in future years.
Then there’s the broader context of global instability– ongoing geopolitical conflict, war famine, poverty, rampant and unregulated AI. Don’t even start me on climate change, an issue no politician seems to even idly glance at anymore.
It’s little wonder why women are rejecting the notion of wholesome family life, at a time that feels like the apocalypse.
I had my kids at a time when things felt hard, but manageable. But if I were making that decision today, looking at the cost of living, the state of housing, the cultural climate, the rise of misogyny online, the instability of the world, I would hesitate for longer. And it’s very possible I’d opt out altogether.
That’s coming from someone who loves kids. Who loves family. Who loves parenting. What I also l love? Being a responsible human being.
So no, we’re not an “endangered species” because we want to be. We’re a society in which women are responding rationally to the world around them.
If men like Musk started looking not just at the decline itself but what the decline is telling us, in countries like Australia and the US, we’d be on a better path.
And if men like Musk, with infinite resources, wealth and power, started using their privilege for good to counter the reasons behind the decline, we likely wouldn’t have a decline at all.
Wishful thinking, for sure. But maybe something for his next context-lacking post.