"I am deprived of motherhood because of our failed system." This is how Elissa, a 30 years old woman expressed her suffering in a country that stole everything she owned and now stole the opportunity of being a mother.
The couple, Elissa and Tony, decided before getting married not to have children. During the interview with Lebanese newspaper Al-Modon, Elissa confirms that "we cannot have children as it is unfair in a costly country like Lebanon, even if we have enough money, basic needs such as infant milk are inaccessible."
Elisa is devastated; she struggles to secure a living with her salary as a teacher and finds herself unable to become a mother.
She claims she feels pressure from her own family and her husband's family as she is always asked about the "expected child."
Elissa declares, "I love children very much, and I used to dream of the day when I would hold my child in my arms; this decision not to have children is tough but rational."
She added, "I cannot give birth to a child who will live in misery; I prefer to wait to secure a decent life for him."
Mothers deprived of a second chance.
If Elissa dreamed of becoming a mother, Aya, a 33 years old woman, achieved this dream four years ago but was deprived of having a second child.
"I prevented my only daughter from having a friend or a "support" for her. Although our financial situation is okay as we receive our salaries in dollars, we fear instability," she said.
She added, "even those who receive their salaries in fresh dollars feel the exorbitant price; Lebanon is no longer affordable, neither in dollars nor in LBP."
Therefore, Aya prefers to deprive herself of a second child than her daughter of everything she needs.
Decrease in the birth rate in Lebanon
Elissa's situation is similar to many women whose lives were affected by the stifling economic and financial crisis and denied many rights, including the right to have children.
As this decision became a sort of recklessness in Lebanon, mothers preferred "optional infertility."
According to the researcher at Information International regional research & consultancy firm, Muhammad Shams al-Din, the birth rate began to decrease in 2019. With the beginning of the Lebanese crisis and the economic collapse, we witnessed a difference in the number of childbirths compared to previous years.
In an interview with Al-Modon, Shams El-Din revealed that the number of births according to years amounted to 92957 in 2018; 86584 in 2019; 74049 in 2020; and 68,130 in 2021; which is the lowest number.
In conclusion, from 2017 to 2021, births decreased by 21,721, or 24.2 percent.
Shams al-Din points out that "after the collapse of the Lebanese Lira and the deterioration of living conditions, in addition to the couples' concern about the possibility of providing the necessary materials for medical care for a pregnant woman or baby supplies, couples are seeking austerity and postponing the idea of having children, hoping either for an improvement in the Lebanese economic situation in general or for their situation."
Pregnancy expenses
The political, economic, and financial crisis, low purchasing power, and high prices of daily living costs, including pregnancy follow-up costs, medical examinations, medicines, and hospitalization expenses, have played a significant role in the decrease in birth rates.
According to the gynecologist Dr. Hussein Naanouh, "the cost of childbirth with the economic crisis, has increased by a large percentage, and it has become different from one hospital to another, in addition to the cost of complications that a pregnant woman is exposed to during childbirth."
He added that "the average cost of expected delivery is $800 or more, and C-section delivery is about $1,000.
All these costs have contributed to reducing the birth rate in Lebanon, apart from postpartum expenses such as diapers, milk, medical examinations, medicines, vaccines, and more, according to Dr. Naanouh.
Finally, late marriages should also be highlighted, as one of the factors contributing to the decrease in the birth rate, according to Naanouh.
"When a woman marries at 35, she will not have the same number of children as if she married in her twenties."
Unfortunately, the Lebanese reality is always reversed if this decrease continues with young people immigrating every day, the population pyramid in Lebanon will turn upside down, and where elderly will occupy its top.