More Money, More Babies: What’s the Relationship Between Income & Fertility?

There’s a common stereotype that poor people have more babies than rich people. This belief is deeply embedded in the American political consciousness, with stereotypes like “welfare queens” often dominating discussions of pronatal policies aimed at boosting birth rates. Likewise, because most people think fertility rates are highest for poorer people, they assume that alleviating costs facing families will not matter that much: if poor women can do it, why not the rich?This perception, however, is false. In most human societies, and in America today, poverty does not predict higher fertility, and well-to-do families often have the highest fertility.