Since the intense decline in the birth rate since the 2000s, more and more research has appeared on the root issue: in general, does having children make parents happy?
Maybe the whole point is that people don't want to reduce their current level of happiness?
This is how it turned out, a significant part of the research revealed.
For example, the UN report on world happiness in 2016 showed that if you look at marital status, life with a child changes for the better only for widows or widowers. For people who are married, cohabiting or living apart in marriage, the birth of a child makes life a little harder. And for divorced or single parents, the feeling of happiness from having children usually falls into the abyss. (I have previously shown other studies that single mothers are the most unhappy).
Separately by country, and if you break up life with a child into periods of time, the situation may look more diverse.
For example, one European report found that a mother's level of happiness rises sharply in the first year after giving birth, but then returns to the same level as before the birth.
But the level of happiness of fathers from the second year of the child not only decreases, but does not return to its previous level. Fathers with children become unhappier.
But in the UK, mothers (as well as fathers) experience a significant drop in happiness levels after a child's first year. (A separate issue is that Britain in general is very different in socio-psychological attitudes even from other European countries).
In general, social anthropologists come to the average opinion that having children is now seen more as a form of self-sacrifice, as well as practical ways to get something else out of life - to strengthen fragile marriages (tie a partner to yourself), for the poor - to go to benefits, for some women from resource families, etc. - to get more divorce assets.