Let more students have babies, says Gudrun Kugler in the CNE podcast
Gudrun Kugler. Photo Ploner Communications, Canva
European Union
Universities should have kindergartens to facilitate students with children. This is no joke, says emography expert Gudrun Kugler, since one of the main problems in our world is that people wait too long before motherhood.
Dr. Gudrun Kugler says in the CNE podcast that young people wait too long to have children. That is one reason Europe is experiencing a demographic crisis.
Kugler is a Member of Parliament in Austria. From that body, she is sent to the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE (Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe).
For this organisation, she wrote a report about the demographic change in the 57 member states. In July, the Assembly adopted her resolution unanimously. It is an alarm, she admits to CNE podcast host Evert van Vlastuin.
The consequences of the demographic change are visible in closing schools, disappearing bus lines and fewer doctors in many areas. “And don’t speak about the effects on the workforce if there are not enough people”, she says. “And we already see a lot of loneliness.”
Many people think that the main problem is that families are smaller. But that is not the case, Kugler says. “The matter is not that people have few children. It is more a matter of fewer people who have children.”
The average number of children per family has not shrunk much in recent decades. The problem is that there are fewer families overall.
The reasons for that are varied, says Kugler in the podcast. “There is an aspect of secularisation. If you don’t have a higher purpose and don’t see yourself as part of a chain in creation, then you look at having children differently. I find it beautiful that the Catholic Church says that having children is passing on the image and likeness of God.”
Another aspect is childlessness. “One third of the couple say they don’t want children. But let’s look at the other two-thirds. Some wanted to have children, but it didn’t work out. And others say, not yet. But the “not yet” is the danger. Delayed parenthood is a big danger. Very often, when we get older, we are not aware how quickly our fertility declines.”
The politician says, she does not want to make people afraid. However, the statistics show that when people have no children by 30, the likelihood of having no children at all grows by the day.
Kugler said in her resolution that portraying a positive picture of motherhood in society is necessary to stimulate women to have children at a younger age.
Related Articles
