Is “motherhood regret” the last great taboo? Every couple of years I come across an article about the phenomenon. From the BBC:

A 2023 study conducted in Poland estimated 5–14% of parents regret their decision to have children and would opt to be childfree if they had their time again.

Parents may not speak openly about regret, but they are finding community online. The Facebook group I Regret Having Children, which has 96,000 members. 

I guess you could say l’ve been collecting(?) these stories: Nikol Lohr on pregnancy; “He’d never wanted kids”; I Don’t Want Kids. While I’m more interested in the personal aspect of this trend, the global implications are… ominous? From Perplexity:

Global fertility has fallen from about 5 children per woman in the 1960s to roughly 2.2 today, and it is projected to drop to around replacement level (2.1) by mid‑century and below thereafter. This means population growth is slowing sharply, and the world is expected to peak at about 10.3 billion people in the mid‑2080s before starting a gradual decline.

Most countries in Europe, North America, East Asia, and parts of Latin America already have fertility well below replacement, with some (like South Korea, Italy, Spain, and China) near or below 1.2 children per woman. As their populations age and, in some cases, begin to shrink, they face pressure on pension systems, health care, and economic growth, and are debating pro‑natalist policies versus adapting to long‑term demographic contraction. Meanwhile, Africa still has higher fertility but is also on a downward trajectory, so the global long‑run trend is toward older, slower‑growing or even declining populations.