Natalism (also called pronatalism or the pro-birth position) is a policy paradigm or personal value that promotes the reproduction of human life as an important objective of humanity and therefore advocates high birthrate. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the term, as it relates to the belief itself, dates from 1971 and comes from, formed from , birthrate. Just like a population decline is observed in many countries associated with ageing and cultural modernization, attempts at a political response are also growing. According to the UN, the share of countries with pronatalist policies had grown from 20% in 2005 to 28% in 2019.

Motives

Generally, natalism promotes child-bearing and parenthood as desirable for social reasons and to ensure the continuance of humanity. Some philosophers have noted that if humans fail to have children, humans would become extinct.

Religion

Many religions encourage procreation, and religiousness in members can sometimes correlate to higher rates of fertility. Judaism, Islam, and major branches of Christianity, including the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Catholic Church, encourage procreation. In 1979 one research paper indicated that Amish people had an average of 6.8 children per family. Among some conservative Protestants, the Quiverfull movement advocates for large families and views children as blessings from God. Those who adhere to a more traditionalist framing may therefore seek to limit access to abortion and contraception, as well. The 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae e.g. criticized artificial contraception and advocated for a natalist position.

Politics

Beginning around the early 2020s, the threat of "global demographic collapse" began to become a cause célèbre among wealthy tech and venture-capitalist circles as well as the political right. In Europe, Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán has made natalism a key plank of his political platform. In the United States, key figures include Kevin Dolan, organizer of the Natal Conference, Simone and Malcolm Collins, founders of Pronatalist.org, and Elon Musk, who has repeatedly used his public platform to discuss global birth rates. The right-wing proponents of pronatalism argue that falling birthrates could lead to economic stagnation, diminished innovation, and an unsustainable burden on social systems due to an aging population. The movement suggests that without a significant increase in birth rates, the sustainability of civilizations could be in danger; Elon Musk has called it a "much bigger risk" than global warming.

Intention to have children

An intention to have children is a substantial fertility factor in actually ending up doing so, but childless individuals who intend to have children immediately or within two or three years are generally more likely to succeed than those who intend to have children in the long term. There are many determinants of the intention to have children, including:

Concrete policies

Natalism in public policy typically seeks to create financial and social incentives for populations to reproduce, such as providing tax incentives that reward having and supporting children. Some countries with population decline offer incentives to the people to have large families as a means of national efforts to reverse declining populations. Incentives may include a one-time baby bonus, or ongoing child benefit payments or tax reductions. Some impose penalties or taxes on those with fewer children. Some nations, such as Japan, Singapore, and South Korea, have implemented, or tried to implement, interventionist natalist policies, creating incentives for larger families among native stock. Paid maternity and paternity leave policies can also be used as an incentive. For example, Sweden has generous parental leave wherein parents are entitled to share 16 months' paid leave per child, the cost divided between both employer and state. However, it appears not to work as desired.

Postcommunist

Russia

Natalist thinking was common during Soviet times. After a brief adherence to the strict Communist doctrine in 1920s and attempts to raise children communally, coupled with the government-provided healthcare, the Soviet government switched to neo-traditionalism, promoting family values and sobriety, banning abortions and making divorces harder to obtain, advancing natalist ideals that made mockery of irresponsible parents. The expanded opportunities for female employment caused a population crisis in the 1930s, government had expanded access to child care starting at the age of two. After the Great Patriotic war the skewed ratio of men to women prompted additional financial assistance to women that had children or were pregnant. Despite the promotion and long maternity leave with maintenance of employment and salary, modernization still caused birthrates to continue to slide into the 1970s. The end of the USSR in 1991 was accompanied by a large drop in fertility. In 2006, Vladimir Putin made demographics an important issue, instituting a two-pronged approach of direct financial rewards and socio-cultural policies. The notable example of the former is the maternal-capital program where the woman is provided with subsidies that can be spent only on improved housing or the education of a child (and can also be saved for the retirement).

Hungary

The Hungarian government of Viktor Orbán in 2019 announced pecuniary incentives (including eliminating taxes for mothers with more than three children, and reducing credit payments and easier access to loans), and expanding day care and kindergarten access.

Critics

Natalism has been criticized on human-rights and environmental grounds. Most antinatalists, malthusians, reproductive rights advocates and environmentalists see natalism as a driver of reproductive injustice, population growth, and ecological overshoot. In politics, journalists have linked the pronatalist movement with far-right eugenics.

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