There are more emails and fewer babies than there used to be, and the correlation between the two (r = -0.959) is strong enough that one can imagine, uncharitably, a generation putting off parenthood to answer its inbox. This is of course not literally the case, but the graph insists on the comparison, and the graph has, if nothing else, a cold kind of sense of humor. More pings. Fewer prams.
Between 2015 and 2022, global email volume rose from roughly 210 billion per day to over 333 billion, inflated by automation, marketing, and the unkillable distribution list; US fertility dropped from 1.84 births per woman to 1.66, well below replacement, driven by housing costs, delayed marriage, student debt, and the slow normalization of remaining child-free. Both trends are symptoms of the same kind of modernity — one where communication has become frictionless and commitment has become expensive. The Copenhagen Institute estimates the average white-collar professional now spends more hours per year on email than the average American spent on raising a child to age 3 in 1950.
The inbox overflows. The cradle stands empty. Between them, time runs the same direction.
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Want to learn more about why correlations like “US fertility rate” vs “Global emails sent per day” don't prove causation? Read our guide to statistical thinking.
