Flash News

Peqin Prison like Dubai, Artan Hoxha releases video: 7-star hotel cell

Anti-rally in the face of civic protest, Rama acts 'naive': It's not a provocation, we couldn't have postponed it

The US lifted the sanction, Berisha: It was a decision based on the corrupt lobbying of Rama and Soros

SPAK operation, arrest warrants issued revealed; who are the people targeted?

The US removed the "women's name", Berisha: Gratitude to the Trump administration, an unjust decision was corrected

POLITIKOFF

Why is the birth rate falling? Two new studies blame smartphones

Politiko 2026-06-12 14:37:35

Why is the birth rate falling? Two new studies blame smartphones

As governments around the world try to find ways to halt the decline in birth rates, two new American studies suggest that one important factor may have been overlooked: the smartphone.

A study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research examined why birth rates in the US have fallen by 22% since 2007. For a long time, experts attributed this decline to the 2008 financial crisis, but even after the economy recovered, births did not return to previous levels.

Economist Caitlin Myers and her student Ezekiel Hooper tested the hypothesis that smartphones, which became widespread after the release of the first iPhone in 2007, may have influenced this trend.

Comparing U.S. counties with high and low AT&T network coverage, researchers found that iPhone access was associated with a 4.5%–8% decrease in births among 15–19-year-olds and 3.2%–6.6% among 20–24-year-olds. Smaller declines were also seen among older women.

According to the authors, smartphones are not the only cause, but have played a significant role in changing the way people interact. With their proliferation, time spent with friends face-to-face and sexual activity have declined significantly, while pornography consumption has increased.

Another study from the University of Cincinnati analyzed data from 128 countries and came to a similar conclusion. The researchers found that the decline in fertility accelerated after smartphones became widely available, regardless of differences in culture, economics, or health systems.

However, some academics remain skeptical, pointing out that teen births in the US had already begun to decline in the 1990s, long before the advent of smartphones.

Declining fertility remains a global challenge. The United States, China, Japan and South Korea face aging populations and labor shortages, while even middle-income countries like India and Brazil are experiencing rapid declines in birth rates. /NYT

Latest news