00:01Across the Maghreb, families are having fewer children.
00:05In Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, fertility has fallen by more than half since the 1970s.
00:13Economic pressures and changing social norms are reshaping family life.
00:17For many couples, a larger family is simply out of reach.
00:24Honestly, I would prefer to have only two children.
00:27The cost of living is increasing, prices are rising, and it also depends on your salary.
00:32Even if I had a high salary, I would prefer to only have two,
00:36so that I could properly balance their needs with those of their parents.
00:43The cost of living is rising excessively here.
00:46People avoid having a large number of children because it would be difficult to raise them.
00:51So we tell ourselves it's better to have two rather than a lot of children.
00:58I think there are economic reasons that force couples not to have three or five children in one family.
01:05Among these reasons is the low average income of Algerians,
01:09and more generally around the world,
01:11because this is a global hardship and not something limited to Algeria.
01:18Experts warn the trend could shrink the future workforce
01:22as fewer babies mean fewer people entering the labour market.
01:28In Tunisia, this trend will certainly transform the demographic structure.
01:32The number of children will fall.
01:34We are already seeing a decline in the working-age population,
01:38while the proportion of older people will rise.
01:41In the coming years, this will create a greater need for migrant labour.
01:53It's not just cost of living.
01:55Later marriage, delayed childbirth, contraception,
01:58and changing opportunities and expectations for women are reshaping family life.
02:06You
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