Across the developed world, birth rates are collapsing. Japan, Italy, South Korea, Spain, Germany, and much of the English-speaking West are now well below replacement level with some countries facing outright demographic contraction. Governments continue trying to fight it with financial incentives, extended parental leave, and subsidised childcare, but the numbers keep falling. There is only one remaining country that completely unsettles the narrative: Israel. It’s wealthy, highly educated, technologically advanced, and yet its fertility rate remains robustly above replacement. Israel is not just an outlier, but a total contradiction. And that contradiction raises an uncomfortable question for the West: what if declining birth rates are not actually an economic problem but a cultural one – and one that the West itself created?Â
Israel and the Numbers That Break the Global Pattern
According to OECD data, Israel’s total fertility rate (TFR) sits at 2.9 births per woman, far above the 2.1 replacement level and dramatically higher than any other developed economy.
This matters because the reason does not fit the usual explanations for high birth rates. High fertility is typically associated with low income, weak education systems, agrarian economies where children are economic assets, and often places with limited access to contraception. Israel is none of these. It’s a high-income, urbanised society with strong female education and workforce participation, advanced healthcare, and widespread access to family planning.
So, why do the usual demographic rules not apply?
The West’s Demographic Collapse at a Glance
Five of the lowest birth rates among rich, developed countries:
- South Korea: 0.7Â
- Japan: 1.3Â
- Italy: 1.2Â
- Spain: 1.3Â
- Germany: 1.4Â
They are not poor countries. They are among the richest, safest, and most technologically advanced societies ever built. And they’re shrinking.
High Fertility Elsewhere, For Very Different Reasons
Five of the highest fertility rates globally are some of the poorest:
- Niger: 6.7Â
- Somalia: 6.1Â
- Chad: 6.0Â
- Democratic Republic of the Congo: 6.0Â
- Mali: 5.9Â
In these societies, high fertility is often driven by necessity, higher child mortality, limited social security, weaker access to contraception, and agrarian labour needs. Israel’s fertility picture looks nothing like this – and that’s exactly the point.
Religion: the Factor the West is Choosing to Ignore
One of the clearest differences between Israel and the rest of the developed world is religiosity. Contrary to Europe and parts of Asia where rapid secularisation has drastically dwindled participation in faith, Israel remains openly and structurally religious – not just among the ultra-Orthodox Jews, but across society as a whole.
Most importantly, Israel’s high fertility is not confined to any single community or group. Even secular Israeli women have more children on average than their counterparts in East Asia or Europe. Widespread religious norms still treat family formation as a central life goal rather than a lifestyle option that can be postponed indefinitely.
In contrast, much of the West has systematically stripped religion from public life, cultural narratives, and education – and replaced it with careerism, individualism, and consumption. And we’re now seeing the results.
Women and Education: What the West Continues Getting Wrong
A common assumption in the West is that higher female education and workforce participation inevitably suppresses birth rates. Israel proves that wrong.
Israeli women are typically very highly educated and economically active, yet fertility remains high. The difference here is not the opportunity, but the expectation. In much of the West, professional success and motherhood are framed as competing identities that cannot coexist. In Israel, however, they are more often treated as culturally, socially, and politically compatible.
This suggests that the issue is not to do with female empowerment or equality, but the cultural story told about what a meaningful life looks like.
Israel’s “National Project”
The history of Israel matters. The country was officially recognised in the shadow of catastrophe and remains aware of security threats. Demographers often describe a “national project” mentality: a shared sense that family, continuity, and population growth are all tied to success and survival.
It doesn’t necessarily mean that Israelis have children out of fear. Instead, it means children are framed as participation in something greater than the self. That framing is almost entirely absent in Western societies that have redefined meaning around personal fulfilment alone.
Why Does Western Policy Keep Failing?
Western governments respond to tumbling birth rates with financial incentives like tax credits, baby bonuses, and subsidised childcare. These measures, on paper, tackle the economic margin problem of parenthood – yet they consistently fail to reverse the decline.
Why? Because they address cost, not purpose. People do not tend to decide whether to have children based on spreadsheets alone. They decide based on whether they believe there is value in building a family, and whether society convinces them it’s respected and meaningful to do so.
That’s what Israel’s doing differently to the other developed economies.
Was It Intentional?
Is the collapse in birth rates across the developed world simply an unintended side effect of modernity, or the predictable outcome of deliberate cultural and policy choices? For decades, Western governments, institutions, and media actively discouraged traditional family formation, promoted career-first lifestyles, and dismantled religion. Over time, children have become framed more as a private indulgence than as a social good.
The decline has arguably been tolerated and even welcomed by elites concerned about “climate” targets, housing pressure, and general social control. Smaller populations mean fewer demands on the state, lower long-term pension liabilities, and a workforce more reliant on migration rather than generational continuity. Or is it possible that the remarkable indifference to falling birth rates, year after year, was not part of a deliberate, coordinated effort?
Final Thought
Israel’s fertility is the byproduct of culture, belief, and collective purpose – all qualities that the developed world has spent years quietly deconstructing.
The same societies that spent decades dismantling the cultural foundations of family life now express surprise at the outcome. Israel’s exception proves that demographic collapse is not an inevitability. It is, at least in part, a matter of choice and purpose.
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Categories: Did You Know?, World News
Jab. Genetically engineered not to affect Israel. Western countries with high uptake have their fertility destroyed.