Birth Rates & Eugenics

... Across the developed world, intelligence and fertility are inversely related. In most industrialized societies, people with higher IQs, greater education, and higher incomes tend to have fewer children. This pattern, observed for more than a century, has led some researchers to argue that the modern world is experiencing dysgenic trends, meaning that the traits associated with intelligence and competence are slowly declining. Studies using both genetic and demographic data have shown persistent selection against intelligence-related characteristics. In Western countries, the most intelligent individuals often postpone or avoid childbearing, while those with lower intelligence have tended to reproduce earlier and more frequently

Recent evidence, however, suggests that these trends are slowing, and in some places beginning to reverse...

This pattern is important because it links reproduction to education, intelligence, and stability. As more children are born to high-income, well-educated parents, the population’s average level of human capital may be better preserved. In other words, the dysgenic trend that once seemed inevitable has weakened...

With thoughtful incentives that favor capable and productive citizens, societies can ensure that the next generation inherits both stability and intelligence rather than a slow erosion of competence.