The advent of smartphones caused a sharp drop in the global birth rate — researchers found a direct link to the launch of 4G

Researchers believe, writes the Financial Times, that digital technologies have changed the lifestyle of young people and reduced the amount of live communication. A similar pattern has been recorded in many countries: in the USA, Britain and Australia, the birth rate among young people began to fall sharply after 2007, in France and Poland — after 2009, in Mexico, Morocco and Indonesia — after 2012. Later, similar trends were recorded in Ghana, Nigeria and Senegal.

The coincidence, scientists believe, is not accidental: the mass distribution of smartphones began in the late 2000s — the first iPhone appeared in 2007, the Android platform — a year later.

The scale of the problem is staggering. 71% of the world’s population already lives in countries with a fertility rate below the replacement level of 2.1 children per woman. Among the major economies: China — 1.02, the United States — 1.62, Brazil — 1.60. The Lancet forecast is even more dire: by 2100, 97% of countries will be below the replacement level — a demographic shift without historical precedent.

While researchers aren’t saying smartphones are the sole cause, they’re seen as a contributing factor, along with rising costs of living, behavioral changes, and economic instability. But the chronological coincidence across dozens of countries on different continents is hard to ignore.

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