In a Buenos Aires apartment, 38-year-old lawyer Marina tells her mother, Abigail, 75, that there is no right to be a grandmother. Abigail had imagined a retirement surrounded by grandchildren, but Marina’s life is filled with her career, her travels, her cats. “When I was young, being a mother was part of our personal fulfilment, even if you were very independent and professional,” Abigail recalls. “Girls today don’t have that backpack, they don’t feel that desire or have that mandate.” The exchange, drawn from a recent study by Argentina’s Universidad Austral, is not an isolated family drama. It is a scene playing out in different keys across the world, as the desire for parenthood collides with economic headwinds and a profound redefinition of what makes a life complete.

The same study found that only 46 per cent of Argentines now consider having children very important, down from 77 per cent a decade ago. For the first time, the main reason given for not wanting children is not money or work but that parenthood simply does not form part of their life project. Births in Argentina have nearly halved in ten years, and the country’s fertility rate has dropped to 1.2 children per woman, placing it among the lowest in Latin America alongside Chile, Uruguay and Costa Rica. Yet the currents are global. A major survey by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), released this week and covering 108,000 adults aged 18 to 39 across 73 countries, identifies financial insecurity, unstable employment and housing challenges as the biggest barriers to marriage and parenthood. More than two-thirds of respondents want to marry or live with a partner, and almost 80 per cent see partnership as a precondition for having children, but economic realities are blocking the path.

In the United Kingdom, a separate survey by Yorkshire Building Society reveals how the dream of homeownership—seen by 88 per cent of people as central to stability and family formation—fades sharply if not achieved by middle age. Among non-homeowners, 76 per cent of 25-to-34-year-olds aspire to buy, but that figure drops to 38 per cent for those aged 45 to 54, and to just 8 per cent for the over-65s. “Britain hasn’t fallen out of love with homeownership,” said Tom Simpson, managing director of homes at the society. “But what’s changing is belief.” The UNFPA report explicitly challenges the notion that feminism or selfishness is driving down birth rates, noting that many women still lack autonomy over contraception and healthcare, and that men and women alike cite financial concerns as the top obstacle. “Most people are not selfishly refusing to become parents,” the report states, “nor are they waiting for babies to promise a better return on investment.” Instead, respondents most commonly mention the joy and happiness children bring.

At the same time, the biological window is narrowing. A study published in The Lancet projects that global cases of female infertility will rise from 53.6 million in 2023 to 80 million by 2036, with the steepest increase among women aged 35 to 39. Researchers attribute the trend to delayed childbearing as women pursue education and careers, a pattern most pronounced in high-income countries but increasingly visible in developing nations, where access to fertility treatment remains expensive and scarce. The convergence of economic precarity, shifting personal priorities and rising infertility is redrawing the demographic map. In Buenos Aires, Abigail still hopes for a grandchild, but Marina’s cats curl up on the sofa where a bassinet might have stood—a small, quiet emblem of a generation’s recalibrated dreams.