As a teenager, Georgie would throw around ideas of what her life would look like as a mum. In some versions, she loved the idea of having twins. Other times, she thought five was the magic number.
But in the past twelve months, Georgie, 29, has shelved the idea of having a baby - and she's part of a baby drought that's happening across Australia.
With finances and housing having been turbulent in the last year, she feels the decision has been somewhat made for her.
"We live in a country that should be abundant in opportunity and [I] dream that comes true but the country I see now is not one that I want to raise a child in," Georgie told the Feed.
Fertility rates across Australia are trending down in all jurisdictions. Credit: ABS/SBS The Feed
In Brisbane, where Georgie and her wife live, the rental vacancy - which measures the number of currently available rentals - is 1 per cent. Over the past few months, Georgie applied for 14 different properties before finally landing a rental.
Her grocery bill is higher than it used to be and . She says there are just too many variables and uprooting her life for a baby is no longer sensible - especially when unforeseen costs could blindside her.
"When you think about having a kid, you want them to have a yard, somewhere that they can play and grow up," she said.
"You've got to think 'Do you live near school?' What are you going to be able to offer that child?"
Falling pregnant would also be a financial burden and a game of chance for Georgie, who would go down the road of IVF with her wife. She says each cycle would cost her at least $5,500, which would be a strain on their finances, even though they're both working full-time and earning decent money. Medicare offers a rebate if there is a fertility problem.
"Knowing that it's not something that is guaranteed is quite scary," she said.
"You feel a little bit like you're throwing money down the drain in a scenario where it's not feasible to do that."
Not long ago, Georgie and her partner were considering moving back in with one of their parents while they waited for a rental. They also toyed with the idea of giving up their pets to ease the financial burden.
"It makes me anxious to think about if there was another human being in that scenario."
Even if she became pregnant quickly through IVF, she said the tight funds and fears that unexpected costs were around the corner would hang over her head.
"That would give me endless anxiety."
It's a dilemma that is contributing to Anita's decision to currently stay childfree with her husband, too.
In a message, she told The Feed: "We live in a two bedroom close to the city. To sell this place and buy another in the same area with a backyard and more space would cost us a million bucks."
"I'm only 29, we'll both be full time uni students next year, we aren't feeling that time crunch. I know either way we'll have a happy and fulfilling life with each other."
Australians just aren't having as many babies
In the first quarter of 2023, the number of births in public hospitals in NSW - Australia's most populous state - dipped to its lowest point since records began 13 years ago. The number of births in NSW peaked at about 19,100 in the June quarter of 2021 before steadily falling to about 15,900 in the March 2023 quarter.
Lulls are expected during times of uncertainty, but when this data was released, Dr Liz Allen said demographers like herself thought there must have been a mistake.
"Many thought this data can't be real. It's got to be incomplete, right? Something's missing. But the data is real," she said.
Australia's national birth rate has been declining since the 1970s, but this preliminary data in NSW is "outside the expectation of a trend".
The number of babies born in NSW significantly dropped in the first quarter of this year. Credit: Bureau of Health Information/SBS The Feed
Women are significantly more likely to be influenced by these factors than men, the report found.
Climate change is another one of those reasons, but at the moment, Allen suspects it's secondary to socioeconomic factors.
Allen says people are delaying or not having kids altogether because of these barriers.
A trend, she adds, that is disproportionately "unfair" to the young people yearning to be parents.
"We've now got these socio-economic uncertainties bubbling, creating a really hostile situation for young people," Allen said.
"But this is not a failure of young people. This is a failure of societies in granting a system of support that ensures a hopeful and certain future."
Wait, wasn't there a baby boom during the pandemic?
The national fertility rate, which measures the average number of children per woman during their reproductive lifetime, slumped during the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Although some have said there has been a baby boom after the pandemic, Allen said there "certainly was not". At a national level, according to the most recent Australian Bureau of Statistics figures from 2021, it's an average of 1.66 babies per woman.
The baby drought is also happening in the City of Melbourne, with fertility rates falling to 0.66 per woman in 2021. To "replace" yourself and a partner, this rate should sit at 2.1. In Victoria, it's higher at a rate of 1.52, but it still lags.
When certainty increases, so will baby-making, Allen said. That hope - and consistent messaging - was what stirred the baby boom after World War Two, she adds.
"What's lacking in this period of uncertainty is the messaging and feeling of hope. People wanted to feel excited and hopeful, but they aren't getting that."
But falling birth rates impact Australia long-term...
Fewer babies mean an ageing population will have to outsource its workforce, Allen said. This typically means upping migration or risk slowing economic growth.
But from a human point of view, it means: "We're saying to generations, who are yet to experience adulthood, and who haven't even been born yet that we've lived our lives. But we're not going to grant you the same possibilities."
"Some demographers have gone as far as saying that low and declining fertility rates amount to a human catastrophe."
She agrees.
"We need to get to a point where we don't have a human catastrophe and we don't have these missing babies - babies that were never realised - because of these external barriers," Allen said.
For Georgie, in the conversations with her wife about their future, she said: "We could see ourselves being good parents."
But for now, that's not an option.
