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Germans hunting Mr or Ms Right not having kids
Published: 17 Jan 13 12:15 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/national/20130117-47395.html
Germans choose not to have babies because they have not found a suitable mother or father for their child rather than due to financial concerns, a government report released on Wednesday suggests.
- Is Germany a horrible place to raise a family? - Analysis & Opinion (18 Dec 12)
- Fewer Germans find children worthwhile - Society (17 Dec 12)
- Women on contracts can keep pregnancy mum - Society (7 Dec 12)
Younger people said they were put off because they saw parenthood as a complicated balancing act - and were unwilling to walk the tight rope between work, life and children.
Of those non-parents under 50 years old, 39 percent said they felt they were too young to have kids, while 34 percent said they wanted to keep their free time for their hobbies.
The numbers show a shift compared with ten years ago, when most childless Germans said they had been putting off having babies due to financial concerns about whether or not they could afford it.
However, 34 percent now said the reason they had not had children was because they were uncertain about what their future held - which could be partly due to concerns over job security.
The report supported the recent findings of researchers from the Federal Institute for Population Research, who in December said that a quarter of German women born between 1964 and 1968 did not have children primarily because they believed motherhood was incompatible with pursuing a career.
The figures can be seen as a blow for the German government in its drive to raise the country's dismally low birth rate, Die Welt newspaper said on Thursday. Any government financial or social incentives could not compete against personal reasons for putting off having children, the paper said.
In the latest measure, the government said it would grant children under three a legal claim to a place in a nursery or with a child carer from August 2013, although recent data showed the country was behind schedule in providing capacity for this.
Worldwide, Germany is one of the countries with the highest number of childless women, but Families Minister Kristina Schröder remained optimistic on Wednesday. The new report showed signs that the German birth rate would slowly begin to increase, she said.
Figures showed a rise in the number of people who said they wanted children and suggested that more women who want children were putting off having kids until they were at least 30. Furthermore, said Minister Schröder, the number of well-educated people having children was back on the rise after several years of decline.
DAPD/The Local/jlb
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Your comments about this article:
To be honest, I'm surprised there are any Germans at all!
The women I have met in recent years are all incredibly desperate to finally find a man to settle down with. Apparently because they think their biological clock is ticking and there aren't many fish left in the sea for them, so they don't pull any punches and on the third or fourth date they give you to understand they don't look to play around. They want to settle down if possible the day before yesterday, and it blows their mind when you tell them that you personally don't really see the rush.
Maybe I have been seeing the wrong kind of women, but that is something that really puts me off. I too would like to be with somebody again, and yes, if more develops, bit by bit, then I wouldn't have anything against it. But frankly when somebody rushes in on me like that, it's just about as unattractive as they come.
Why are people labeling those who chose not to have them as "selfish"? Shouldn't it be labeled "responsible" instead?- I mean, the planet is overpopulated already, and the resources are not getting any better. Just because Mrs. nobody wanted to be mommy doesn't mean everyone HAS to suffer.
Isn't is more selfish to spawn a little one just to fit into society and spread your genes, to send him school alone in the bahn at age 5-6 while comfortably collecting kindergeld, and then using the child as an excuse not to do anything else out of life?
Or is it just that the selfishness comes out of own fear of not having some moron paying for your "rente" in 30 years?
When my (German) girlfriend and I moved together, she was horrified that I was of the mindset, one bed, one duvet. The idea caused quite a bit of tension. 22 years later of happy marriage, she hates it when we stay places or with other people and there on the bed waiting for us is..............two duvets.....However, I have never got the two mattresses to be a single.....
Another argument that doesn't hold is claiming that not having children is a heroic decision, i.e., by saving them from bad parenting. It is everybody's obligation to be good parents and it's society's obligation to take good care of the ones who will carry mankind forward one day.
Overpopulation in the world is happening in poor and undeveloped countries with undeveloped mentality. If the developed world doesn't raise their offspring we can already dig our graves and give up on mankind because we'll have nobody in 100-150 years to carry on good values, good attitude, knowledge, science, culture, etc. and push the world forward. We'll have to wait 1000 years more until we somehow restore what we lost.
Family is the most important and fundamental structure that nurtures the human development. Lack of family or lack of good family increases the chances of forming individuals who are unprepared to live in a harmonious healthy society.
Too late somebody beat you to the idea,on 12 August 1938 somebody who shall remain nameless gave a Mothers Medal , a gold medal was awarded to women with seven children, a silver to women with six, and a bronze to women with five.
Is this in line with your thinking ?.
Its a German thing, finding the perfect sole mate is a major undertaking, a few make it most are dubious , maybe with good reason.
@Zubair Khan Too late somebody beat you to the idea,on 12 August 1938 somebody who shall remain nameless gave a Mothers Medal , a gold medal was awarded to women with seven children, a silver to women with six, and a bronze to women with five. Is this in line with your thinking ?.
If you give it a quick Google, Putin is still doing it...........and regularly....
Didn't know but not surprised ,watching a rapid return to totalitarianism in the East .
Have a look at a map of Germany. Note how many towns there are in every direction. You cant go ten kilometers in the country without running into a human settlement. That doesn't leave much room for Nature.
Germany is overpopulated compared to countries like France. A healthy balance needs to be struck between room to live and population. Less can be better.