Despite increasing wealth and education, East Asian societies are experiencing declining birth rates, falling below replacement levels. Efforts to reverse this trend have yielded disappointing results.

Across East Asia, societies are becoming richer, healthier and more educated, yet fewer people feel able or willing to have families and raise children. Low fertility plagues high-income societies, particularly in East Asia, where the total fertility rate (TFR) has fallen below one birth per woman, well under the replacement level of 2.1 births. While many countries have dedicated considerable resources and effort to reversing this trend, the results have been somewhat disappointing. The pairing...