Across many countries, including Azerbaijan, a growing number of families are choosing to have only one or two children – or to delay parenthood altogether. While economic factors play a role, experts say the trend is driven just as much by changing lifestyles, social behavior, and shifting personal priorities.
Speaking to Missiya.az, sociologist Elchin Bayramli said that financial considerations alone do not fully explain the decline in birth rates.
“History shows that people did not start families only in times of prosperity,” Bayramli noted. “Even today, many societies with modest living standards continue to have children. This means the issue goes beyond economics.”
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According to the sociologist, one of the key factors is a transformation in values. Many young families increasingly prioritize personal comfort, freedom, and individual time, while parenthood is often perceived as an added burden rather than a natural stage of life.
As a result, one-child families have become more common, two-child households less frequent, and in some cases couples choose not to have children at all.
Bayramli warned that such trends could have long-term consequences, including population decline, aging societies, and a shrinking workforce. Similar challenges are already evident in countries such as Japan, where demographic aging has placed increasing pressure on social and economic systems.
“Azerbaijan is not yet facing a critical situation,” he said. “However, if the ‘live only for yourself’ mindset becomes widespread, the long-term impact could be serious. Parenthood has never required exceptional wealth – that was never the rule in any era.”
The sociologist argues that maintaining demographic balance requires at least two children per family, and three or more in households with stronger economic capacity. He emphasized the need for a comprehensive approach that combines social support with public awareness efforts.
“In many countries, families with multiple children receive targeted state support,” Bayramli said. “Azerbaijan already has certain mechanisms, but they could be adapted to modern realities – for example, by lowering the threshold for multi-child family status from five children to three.”
He added that both material assistance for lower-income families and value-based public discourse for more affluent groups should move in parallel in order to prevent long-term demographic decline.
