Is the Smartphone to Blame for Falling Birth Rates? US Study Points to New Factor

(CNA, Washington, 8th) As governments try to reverse the trend of declining birth rates, a new American study indicates that the proliferation of smartphones may be a significant factor in the decline.

According to AFP, research published today by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), titled "Is the iPhone a Form of Contraception?", explores the reasons behind a 22% decline in the U.S. birth rate since 2007.

The study notes that while this decline was previously attributed to the 2008 financial crisis, birth rates have not recovered even as the economy has.

Other possible reasons include the widespread availability of contraception, increased female education levels, and rising housing and childcare costs, but a definitive cause has yet to be established.

Middlebury College economist Caitlin Myers and her student Ezekiel Hooper hypothesized that the spread of smartphones after the launch of Apple's iPhone in 2007 might be linked to the decline in fertility.

The study found a correlation between iPhone proliferation and a 4.5% to 8% decline in the birth rate for women aged 15 to 19, and a 3.2% to 6.6% decline for women aged 20 to 24.

Researchers emphasize that the iPhone is not the "sole factor" for the falling birth rate, but the advent of smartphones has played a significant role in the post-2007 decline because it changed people's behavior patterns and reduced face-to-face interactions.

They stated, "With the spread of smartphones, time spent face-to-face with friends and sexual activity have both sharply decreased, while at the same time, pornography consumption has increased, potentially substituting for partnered sex."

Another study published in May found a similar trend. University of Cincinnati economists Nathan Hudson and Hernan Moscoso Boedo analyzed data from 128 countries to study the relationship between smartphone penetration and adolescent birth rates.

The results showed that after smartphones began to proliferate, the rate of fertility decline significantly accelerated, and this phenomenon exists in countries with different medical, welfare, economic, and cultural backgrounds.

The study concludes that this reflects a "shared technological shock facing the globe."

However, some scholars remain skeptical, arguing that the U.S. adolescent birth rate began to decline in the early 1990s, long before smartphones became widespread.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has pointed out that the U.S. birth rate has fallen to a historic low, and most major Asian economies also face the crisis of future population decline.

China abandoned its long-standing one-child policy in 2016, and Japan and South Korea have invested heavily in pro-natalist policies, but with limited success.

Poorer regions like sub-Saharan Africa still maintain high birth rates, while middle-income countries like India and Brazil are facing the challenge of rapidly declining fertility.