About 10 years ago I read a book called the “The Empty Cradle”. The book said that the world birth rate was dropping and in about 50 years the population would start to drop. It said that in a lot of countries through out the world the birth rate is below the replacement rate and even in 3rd world countries the rate was dropping. It went on to say that once the birth rate drops it is hard to reverse. It said that in today’s world this is not much financial & economic benefit to having children. The estimated total average cost for raising a child in actual costs and lost income was about a million dollars.