The big baby bust: What happened to Australia’s middle child?

Samantha Selinger-Morris· Host0:00

[gentle music] The fertility rate in Australia is at a record low, and there is judgment all around. I'm Samantha Selinger Morris, and you're listening to the Morning Edition from The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald. Today, senior journalist Matt Wade and reporter Bronte Gosling on what our exclusive polling tells us about the global population plunge that we're all inching towards, what challenges it will throw at us, and why the demise of the third child may not be a great thing. It's Monday, June 8th. Welcome, Matt and Bronte, to the podcast.

Matt Wade· Guest0:40

Thank you very much for having us.

Bronte Gosling· Guest0:42

Happy to be here.

Samantha Selinger-Morris· Host0:43

Matt, I'm just gonna start with you because you've been writing about demography in one way or another for about 25 years. So just real quick, like, why is it important to have this conversation now?

Matt Wade· Guest0:53

Well, I think, you know, obviously population is a massive topic for any country, especially for Australia. We're debating it all the time through issues like migration and so forth, but underpinning that question is also this issue of the fertility rate. That's how many babies are being born in the country. And there's no doubt that it's a very personal decision. You know, there's such a huge backstory to just about any child who's born. But it, by the same token, those decisions that are made by families about how many kids they'll have also has far-reaching implications for the whole economy because, of course,