Jamaica is having the wrong conversation if it thinks the birth-rate debate is mainly about telling people to “have more children”.
People expand families when they feel safe. Safe in their income. Safe in their housing. Safe in their relationships. Safe in the belief that if they build a life in Jamaica, that life can actually hold. That is the real issue.
Yes, Jamaica’s birth rate is falling. The official concern is real. Recent reporting says births have dropped sharply, fertility is below replacement, and the country is ageing. STATIN’s 2022 census results showed Jamaica’s population at 2,774,538, but with the lowest average annual growth rate recorded between 1970 and 2022, driven in part by a 42.2 per cent decline in births over the intercensal comparison used by STATIN. The 2021 Reproductive Health Survey also put fertility at 1.9 children per woman, below the 2.1 replacement level.
But numbers alone do not tell the story.
Older Jamaicans remember when large families were normal. I…
