The U.S. fertility rate dropped to a record low in 2023. In addition, birth rates have been declining for the last few decades, and Americans are currently not having enough children to replace the country's population.

How did US fertility rates change in 2023?
Provisional data for 2023 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that the total fertility rate in the U.S. dropped to its lowest since birth rate data began being tracked in 1979, decreasing by 2% in 2023 compared to 2022. This also marked the end of the pandemic baby boom. "A confluence of factors are at play. American women are having fewer children, later in life," said The Wall Street Journal. "Women are establishing fulfilling careers and have more access to contraception."

"People are making rather reasoned decisions about whether or not to have a child," Karen Benjamin Guzzo, the director of the Carolina Population Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said to the Journal. On a larger scale, the U.S. population is expected to begin declining in 2080, according to the Census Bureau. 

Why are rates dropping?
The dropping fertility rate is a reflection of current social and economic issues. "For the first time in our nation's history, a 30-year-old man or woman isn't doing as well as his or her parents were at 30. That is the social compact breaking down," Scott Galloway, a professor at New York University's Stern School of Business, said in an interview with Fortune.

Women across the country are also experiencing a "growing concern over access to reproductive healthcare and politicized debate over abortion access, as well as concerns over the economy, a lack of rights for working parents and growing fears over the future of the planet," said Forbes. For these reasons, many are opting to remain childless.

The U.S. is not the only country facing population issues. A study published in The Lancet found that 198 out of 204 countries are likely to see a population decline by the year 2100. "The implications are immense," Natalia V Bhattacharjee, co-lead author of the study, said to Al Jazeera.

Sex workers' rights vary around the world. The buying and selling of sexual services remains outlawed in many countries, but human rights advocates have criticized criminalization. Now, some countries find ways to embrace the industry through varied legal frameworks.

Legalization
In the countries that embrace legalization — like Colombia, Germany, Greece and New Zealand — buying and selling sexual services is both legal and regulated by the government. In some of those places, operating brothels and soliciting sex from a sex worker is also legal. These laws can vary by state or territory: In Australia, it is only fully legal in Queensland, and sex workers must be licensed; Nevada is the only U.S. state with legally regulated sex work. 

Abolitionism
The most globally prevalent sex work framework is abolitionism, employed in countries like Brazil, India, Thailand, and the UK. Both buying and selling sexual services is legal, but "public solicitation; the operation of brothels; and … pimping, procuring, and forced prostitution are all usually prohibited," the World Population Review said. This approach is the middle ground between criminalization and legalization. Advocates believe governments should allow sex work to occur as long as it does not infringe upon public safety.  

Neo-abolitionism
Neo-abolitionism is in place in several European countries including France, Sweden and Israel. These laws penalize customers soliciting sexual services. Workers are "considered legally blameless when caught in the act" while clients are prosecuted, said the World Population Review. But many sex workers dislike this model, as having fewer clients means workers have "less freedom to turn down clients we don't want to see, and have to take more risks at work to make up for the loss of income," said sex worker collective Swarm. 

Decriminalization
Decriminalization calls for the abandonment of laws that prohibit selling, buying and soliciting sexual services. Many human rights organizations believe it's the safest legal approach for workers. It's in place in Australia, Belgium, New South Wales and New Zealand. Criminalizing sex work makes "workers more vulnerable to violence on the job and less likely to report violence," said the American Civil Liberties Union, plus it marginalizes "some of society's most vulnerable groups."