Elevating the Status of Motherhood Solves Low Birthrates: The Extraordinary Case of Mongolia For 68 years, Mongolian leaders have given the Order of Maternal Glory to mothers. This raised the status of motherhood and helped forge a remarkably pronatal culture. 🧵, please share!
Mongolia's pro-motherhood culture stands out on a fertility map. Fertility in Mongolia has consistently been 2-3 times(!) higher than neighboring areas in recent years and it has been increasing over the past 20 years, even as its neighbors have seen birthrates plunge! 2/8
Mongolia's incomes are comparable its neighbors. It is urbanized. This is also not a case of religiously driven fertility: 🇲🇳 is primarily Buddhist and non-religious. This is about the status of motherhood. In 🇲🇳, the president himself gives an award to every mother of four! 3/8
Mongolian mothers of six are presented with the Order of Glorious Motherhood, First Class. Second Class if you have four. Here celebrated mothers descend the steps of the State Palace in Ulaanbaatar on a red and gold carpet, the statue of Genghis Khan directly behind them. 4/8
The Mongolian president holds separate ceremonies by district, in order to be able to give more personal attention to recipients. There is a cash award too, but it is just $60 for a mother of six. Clearly, this a story motherhood and status in Mongolian society. 5/8
So important is this award that Mongolia's consulates are even tasked with conferring the award to Mongolian mothers abroad. Here, Mongolia's ambassador to the United Nations presents the award to a mother in Geneva. 6/8
Status around motherhood is a crucial and under-appreciated driver of birthrates. We have seen this elsewhere! By honoring parents, Patriarch Ilia of Georgia created a baby boom, something generous financial incentives elsewhere could not achieve. 7/
S. Korea spent $200b trying to increase its birthrate. Hungary spends 5% of GDP.
— Johann Kurtz (@JohannKurtz) August 23, 2024
Both are failing.
Yet the small country of Georgia spiked its birthrate massively without spending a dollar. How?
They understood that fertility isn't about money. It's about status. pic.twitter.com/grCUwHwmJa
Status is incredibly important for most people, and we strive for status perhaps more than anything else. Status helps explain the paradox that as societies become richer, fertility usually drops. Even though absolute well-being has risen, living in a wealthy society offers no
