Daughter, my generation is squandering your birthright

[featherstick]

All this stuff about FSU birth-rates is almost making me feel guilty for purloining a perfectly good Russian

I've heard a theory about hot weather making the difference between poverty causing a rise, or a fall, in family size. You try sharing a 2-bedroom flat with a family of 6 when you have to stay indoors all day in a Russian winter, with sharing a basic hut with a similar-sized family when there's a kitchen-garden or similar where there's always some extra room to mess about/help out with the chores and feel useful outdoors in the sunshine.

Well, it's a theory.

Yep, poor acccommodation, desperate gender relations (in general, Candy, not in your case, obviously), a sense of hopelessness that is still highly prevalent, very short time horizons, all combine to reduce birth rates.