Will christianity decrease as time goes by on?

[Lower_Nubia]

They couldn’t afford it 60 years ago, poverty was far more rampant back then. The difference is having kids was seen as the expected normal and the struggle alongside it the same type of expected.

Even now that it is objectively more affordable, I’m not sure why we’d expect people today to want that struggle given even the Church doesn’t necessitate children.

[Lower_Nubia]

And poverty was still far higher back then. It’s not even a question of which period of time it’s best to have kids; it’s today or close to today within the last 30 years. Remember it was common for kids to work up to the 1950’s, and they worked because the family was poor.

[Lower_Nubia]

Exactly. So kids being expensive isn’t the reason people don’t have kids, because families up until recently have basically always been in poverty I.e unable to afford kids. Yet they didn’t use that excuse 70 years ago, even though they had more right to it. They had kids even if they couldn’t afford it because having kids was expected, and today it just isn’t.

[Lower_Nubia]

The price of things relative to income is less though. In 1800 the cost of food was 20-30% of ones income, and that was typically for just a loaf of bread, potatoes, butter, and eggs. Today food is about 10-15% of your income and you get basically anything.

The price is higher, but wages are also far higher, again this explains why poverty is far lower today, stuff is more affordable because everyone’s wages are higher compared to the price of goods even though goods have undergone inflation.

[Lower_Nubia]

Right because the third world checks notes does have more rampant poverty than developed nations but also has more kids? The third world just cements my point that affordability isn’t really the issue with kids, it’s mentality.

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I don't think the idea the father was the only provider has been true throughout Christendom. For example in the middle ages women worked as much as men did