With the cost of everything spiralling, is parenting hesitancy the new normal?

Declining birth rates around the world may be seen as a good thing since it slows population growth and its associated environmental costs. However, it will leave a relatively small working-age population having to shoulder the pension, health, and care costs of an increasingly ageing population, writes Dr Colm O’Doherty

Parents actively engage in projects of value for themselves, communities and wider society but their hard work is not recognised and appreciated in a society based on private property and capitalist enterprise. File photo

What is important in all our lives? What is of value? Most people can agree that parenting is important for all of us. The value of parenting - its contribution to our health and wellbeing - is priceless. 

However, declining birth rates tell us that around the world being a parent is less and less attractive as a life choice.