HONG KONG, Jan. 26, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The inaugural 2026 Global Fertility Crisis Forum was held last Thursday in Hong Kong. The event brought together 44 guests from more than ten countries and regions, including representatives from the United Nations, China, the United States, India, Japan, South Korea, and Hungary. Participants from academia, business, and government engaged in in-depth discussions on the growing global challenge of declining fertility rates, focusing on key issues such as demographic trends, the economic impact of declining fertility, policy responses, and the balance between women's reproductive choices and career development.

A Global Demographic Crisis Unfolds

Low fertility is no longer a regional issue but a sweeping global transformation. Forum participants warned that low fertility rates now affect two-thirds of the world's population living in countries and regions with total fertility rates (TFR) below the 2.1 replacement level. Beyond population decline, this shift endangers economic stability, cultural heritage and sustainable development. East Asia faces acute challenges from soaring housing costs, high education expenses and rigid gender norms that undermine conventional policies. Although many nations have adjusted fertility policies and introduced subsidies, practice shows that simply easing birth restrictions fails to deliver sustainable rebounds.

Vladimira Kantorova of the United Nations Population Division, mentioned that we must design people-centered interventions to build a viable future and leverage intersections across demographic trends to forge sustainable futures. Yuwa Population Research Institute CEO and Chief Researcher Wenzheng Huang urged an immediate return to replacement-level fertility. He elaborated on humanity's multifaceted value: people are not merely labor but consumers, the base for innovation, carriers of culture and language, and sources of emotional meaning.

AI Intensifies Family and Fertility Challenges

Economist, James Liang posits that AI is exacerbating the global fertility crisis on two key fronts: AI-fueled entertainment offers instant gratification that competes with the long-term commitment to raising children, sparking the question of whether virtual dopamine is supplanting family life, and an AI-driven economy demands hyper-skilled labor, pushing young people into extended education and greater financial instability, which leaves them without the time or money to start and sustain families. Amid these AI-driven fertility challenges, Liang underscores that having children is a meaningful contribution to the continuity of humanity, a critical point he emphasizes in addressing the deepening dilemma.

Root Causes: Economic Pressures, Social Expectations, Cultural Shifts
Masahiro Yamada, Professor of Family Sociology, Chuo University, Japan, attributed Japan's surging unmarried rates to economic volatility and sky-high societal standards, calling marriage a "luxury." The shrinking populations erode workforces and innovation while aging demographics strain healthcare systems.

Policy Lessons: Hungary's Gains, South Korea's Warnings
Hungary's full-lifecycle family policy system, integrating fertility, employment, housing, and taxes, boosted birth rates in 2021. Kazakhstan sustained a TFR near 2.8 in 2024 via robust family aid and maternal-child health systems.

South Korea's TFR plummeted to 0.72 in 2023, however; Hanyang University's Professor Hye Mi You insisted that cash incentives fall short without overhauling work culture, housing markets and family norms.

Actions for a Fertility Revival

The forum released the Initiative on Addressing the Global Fertility Crisis, calling on the international community to recognize "sustainable reproduction" as a shared core value; to meaningfully ease family burdens through policies on taxation, social security, childcare and housing; to encourage enterprises to build family-friendly workplaces; and to foster a social culture that respects childbearing and promotes shared responsibility.

The forum also proposed action plans: establishing a global fertility monitoring platform; creating a "Population Sustainability Contribution Award"; incorporating a "Fertility-Friendliness Index" into reporting; encouraging companies to include parenting support within their ESG frameworks; and forming an "Academic Community on the Fertility Crisis."

This forum created a pivotal international dialogue platform to address the global fertility crisis, driving deep change in mindsets, policies and behaviors, with the aim of providing insight and a foundation for cooperation as humanity confronts population structural transformation.