There was a demographic problem 2,200 years ago, and Polybius wrote exactly what caused it. Read carefully:
"In our times, Greece as a whole is experiencing a lack of children and, more generally, a decrease in population. Because of this, cities have become deserted and there is a lack of productivity, even though we do not suffer from constant wars or epidemics. So if someone advised that we send priests to the gods to ask them what we should say or do to become more numerous and better inhabit our cities, he would not seem foolish, since the cause is obvious and the solution lies in our own hands.
People have turned to arrogance, greed, and laziness, and they neither want to marry, nor, if they do marry, to raise their children. Instead, they have only one or two children with difficulty, just to leave them wealth and raise them in luxury.
This evil grew rapidly, and we did not notice. For when there are only one or two children, and one is lost to war and the other to illness, it is obvious that the cities will inevitably become deserted, just as a beehive weakens little by little, so too do cities that lack population become unable to survive."
Source: Histories, Polybius, 36 (ΛΣΤ)
The similarities after 2,200 years.
The demographic issue has been a problem several times throughout history, and none of those times was it due to the economy, but rather a result of prosperity, comfortable living, and laziness. My Greek grandparents had children even when they had nothing to eat, and the kids grew up barefoot, eating bread with olives and feta cheese. Money was never an obstacle.
Nowadays, people prefer partying, doing drugs, and living for today rather than having a purpose, building a family, and leaving a positive footprint in this world. They choose the easy life. It’s sad watching people who passionately want to have kids but can’t, compared to people who don’t want kids because it would take them out of their comfort zone, because a child would stop them from going to clubs, drinking, and partying like a meaningless person.
- Homer Pavlos