Choosing to be childfree in an “apocalyptic” South Asia | Demographics

Zuha Siddiqui is currently designing her new home in Karachi, creating a blueprint for her future life in Pakistan’s largest metropolis.

Her parents will live in the lower part of this house “because they are getting older and don’t want to climb stairs anymore,” she says.

She will live in a separate part upstairs, with furniture that she likes. Siddiqui believes this is important because she recently celebrated her 30th birthday and wants a place she can finally call her own, she tells Al Jazeera in a phone call.

Siddiqui has worked as a journalist for the past five years, reporting on topics such as technology, climate change and labor in South Asia. She now works remotely and freelances for local and international publications.

Despite all her plans for a family home of her own, Zuha is one of the growing number of young people in South Asia for whom the future does not include having children.

South Asia faces a demographic challenge. As in much of the world, birth rates are declining.

While declines in birth rates are mostly associated with West and Far East Asian countries such as Japan and South Korea, countries in South Asia, where birth rates have generally remained high, are finally showing signs of heading down the same path.

In general, to replace and sustain the current population, a birth rate of 2.1 children per woman is needed, Ayo Wahlberg, a professor in the department of anthropology at the University of Copenhagen, told Al Jazeera.

According to a 2024 US Central Intelligence Agency publication comparing birth rates around the world, India’s birth rate has fallen from 6.2 in 1950 to just over 2; It is forecast to fall to 1.29 by 2050 and just 1.04 by 2100. The birth rate in Nepal is currently only 1.85; in Bangladesh, July 2nd

Deterioration in economic conditions

For now, Pakistan’s birth rate remains above the replacement rate of 3.32, but it is clear that young people there are not immune to the pressures of modern life.

“My decision not to have children is purely financial,” says Siddiqui.

Siddiqui’s childhood was marked by financial insecurity, she says. “When I was growing up, my parents didn’t really do any financial planning for their children.” This was the case with several of her friends, women in their 30s, who also decided against having children, she adds.

While her parents sent their children to good schools, the cost of primary or higher education was not taken into account, and it is not common for parents in Pakistan to set aside money for higher education, she says.

Although Siddiqui is single, she says her decision not to have children would stand even if she were committed. She made her decision shortly after becoming financially independent in her mid-20s. “I don’t think our generation will be as financially stable as our parents’ generation,” she says.

High inflation, rising living costs, trade deficits and debt have destabilized Pakistan’s economy in recent years. On September 25, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a $7 billion loan program for the country.

Like many young people in Pakistan, Siddiqui is deeply concerned about the future and whether she will be able to afford a decent standard of living.

Even though inflation has fallen, the cost of living in the South Asian country continues to rise, albeit more slowly than before. The consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.4 percent in August after rising 2.1 percent in July, local media reported.

Work-life (im)balance

Pakistan is not alone. Most countries in South Asia are struggling with slow economic growth, rising inflation, labor shortages and external debt.

As the global cost of living crisis continues, couples are finding that they have to work more hours than before, leaving them with limited space for their personal lives or children.

Sociologist Sharmila Rudrappa conducted a study published in 2022 on “accidental infertility” among IT workers in Hyderabad, India. It examined how individuals may not experience infertility early in life, but may make decisions due to circumstances that lead them to infertility later on.

Her study participants told her that they “lacked the time to exercise; they didn’t have the time to cook for themselves; and above all, they lacked time for their relationships. They were exhausted by work and had little time for social or sexual intimacy.”

Mehreen*, 33, who comes from Karachi, identifies strongly with it. She lives with her husband, his parents and elderly grandparents.

Both she and her husband work full-time and say they are still “undecided” about having children. Emotionally, they say they want to have children. Rationally speaking, it’s a different story.

“I think work is a big part of our lives,” Mehreen, who works in a corporate job at a multinational company, told Al Jazeera.

They are “almost certain” that they will not have children, citing the cost as one of the reasons. “It’s ridiculous how expensive the entire activity has become,” Mehreen says.

“I feel like the generation before us saw it [the cost of raising children] as an investment in the child. Personally, I don’t see it that way,” she says, explaining that many in the older generation saw children as a way to secure themselves financially for the future – children would be expected to care for their parents in old age. That won’t work for her generation, she says – not given the economic decline the country is experiencing.

Then there is the gender gap – another major issue where the younger generation differs from their parents.

Mehreen says she is well aware that there is a societal expectation that she should take the lead role in parenting instead of her husband, even though they both earn money for the household. “It’s a natural understanding that even though he wants to be an equal parent, in this society he’s just not wired to understand that much about parenting.

“My husband and I see each other as equal partners, but do our respective mothers see us as equal partners? Maybe not,” she says.

Apart from money and domestic responsibilities, other factors also influenced Mehreen’s decision. “Of course I always think that the world is going to end anyway. Why bring a life into this messed up world?” she says dryly.

Like Mehreen, many South Asians worry about raising children in a climate-change-driven world where the future seems uncertain.

Mehreen remembers how as a child she never thought twice about eating seafood. “Now you have to think so much when you think about microplastics and all that. If it’s so bad now, what will happen in 20, 30 years?”

Bringing children into a broken world

In her essay collection “Apocalypse Babies,” Pakistani author and teacher Sarah Elahi describes the difficulties of being a parent now that fear of climate change dominates the concerns of children and young people.

She writes about how climate change was an issue that was swept under the rug during her childhood in Pakistan. But as global temperatures rise, she finds that her own children and students are increasingly living with constant “anthropogenic anxiety.”

Elahi’s sentiments ring true for many. From increasing aviation turbulence to scorching heatwaves to deadly floods, the debilitating effects of environmental damage threaten to make life even more difficult in the coming years, say experts and organizations like Save the Children.

Siddiqui says she realized having children wasn’t feasible when she was covering the environment as a journalist in Pakistan. “Do you really want to bring a child into a world that could be a complete disaster after you die?” she asks.

Several authors and researchers, including those associated with the US think tank Atlantic Council and University College London (UCL), agree that South Asia is among the regions of the world most affected by climate change.

The 2023 World Air Quality Report published by Swiss climate group IQAir found that cities in South Asian countries, including Bangladesh, Pakistan and India, have the worst air quality of 134 countries monitored.

According to a study published in April 2023 by the Environmental Research Group at Imperial College London, poor air quality affects all aspects of human health.

This research found that, for example, breathing polluted air by pregnant women can hinder fetal development. In addition, links have been found between poor air quality and low birth weight, as well as miscarriages and stillbirths. For young women like Siddiqui and Mehreen, these are just more reasons not to have children.

Fear of isolation

Siddiqui has built a strong support system of friends who share her values; a best friend since 9th grade, her former college roommate, and a few people she’s gotten close to over the last few years.

In an ideal world, she says, she would live in a shared apartment with her friends.

However, Siddiqui sometimes still has a fear of being lonely in the future.

A week before she spoke to Al Jazeera, she was sitting in a cafe with two of her friends – women in their late 30s who, like her, have no interest in children.

They talked about their fears of dying alone. “It’s something that really bothers me,” Siddiqui told her friends.

But now she shakes it off and hopes it’s an irrational fear.

“I don’t want to have children just to have someone to take care of me when I’m 95. I think that’s ridiculous.”

Siddiqui says she discussed the cafe conversation with her best friend.

“She was like, ‘No, you’re not going to die alone.’ I’ll be there.”

*Name changed for anonymity reasons.