Not to mention that lockdowns and their economic fallout have been on the table for >9 months now, so plenty of people who could maybe currently support a child have decided to hold off because all security is out of the window, even down to getting proper medical care through the pregnancy being doubtful because of all the theatrical covid panic.

That most government "experts" expected birthrates to go up during these lockdowns is a hilarious indictment of how much of a failure government hiring practices are at hiring competence.