Op-Ed: Cambodia’s Quiet Demographic Revolution

@ SOS Children's Village Cambodia

In just a few decades, Cambodia has undergone a quiet demographic revolution. The country’s fertility rate—once among the highest in Southeast Asia—has plummeted from over 6 children per woman in the 1980s to about 2.5 in recent years, approaching the replacement level of 2.1.

On the surface, this looks like a simple story of modernization: more girls in school, more women in the workforce, and better access to family planning.

But a closer look reveals a much more complicated reality. Cambodia’s declining fertility rate raises critical questions about gender equality, economic opportunity, and who benefits—or loses—when women have fewer children.

What’s Driving Cambodia’s Declining Fertility?

Multiple factors are pushing Cambodia’s fertility downward.

Education has been one of the most powerful forces of change. Literacy and school enrollment for girls have improved dramatically since the 1990s, delaying marriage and childbirth as young women spend more years in school.

Meanwhile, urbanization is reshaping family decisions. As families move to cities like Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, the high cost of housing, education, and childcare makes having many children unaffordable.

At the same time, the growth of Cambodia’s garment, service, and tourism industries has pulled millions of women into paid work, shifting priorities away from early, frequent childbearing.

Finally, access to contraception has expanded, albeit unevenly, giving more women some control over when and how many children they have.

Choices or Constraints?

Yet these drivers are not simply signs of progress—they also expose deep structural inequalities. While fertility decline is often portrayed as a marker of women’s empowerment, it can also reflect a

Lack of choice.

In Cambodia today, the pressure to delay or avoid having children is increasingly tied to economic insecurity. Low wages and precarious jobs are a daily reality for many women, especially in the garment sector, where over 80 percent of workers are female. These jobs come with long hours, low pay, and few benefits, making pregnancy or taking time off for childcare a financial risk many cannot afford.

Moreover, affordable and quality childcare remains rare across the country. Without meaningful public investment in early childhood care, balancing work and family becomes nearly impossible for working mothers.

As a result, for countless Cambodian women, having fewer children isn’t just a personal choice—it’s an economic necessity shaped by a system that fails to support caregiving.

A Feminist Economic Lens on Fertility Decline

A feminist economic perspective makes it clear that women’s unpaid care work sustains the economy, yet remains invisible and undervalued.

As fertility rates drop, the need for affordable childcare and eldercare will only grow, and without policies to support caregivers, women will continue to carry a disproportionate burden—limiting their careers, incomes, and well-being.

Equally important, reproductive decisions are never made in a vacuum.

When fertility decline is driven by poverty, unstable employment, or social pressures—not just personal preference—it is not an uncomplicated story of liberation. This perspective insists that declining fertility alone doesn’t guarantee gender equality; it must be accompanied by policies that value women’s work, both paid and unpaid, and protect their rights.

How Can Cambodia Turn Fertility Decline into Progress?

Instead of worrying about a so-called “fertility crisis,” Cambodia has an opportunity to reimagine family, work, and care. That means investing in universal childcare so women aren’t forced to choose between employment and motherhood.

It means enforcing fair wages and maternity protections, especially in female-dominated sectors like garments, hospitality, and domestic work.

It means expanding social safety nets, like child allowances or parental leave, to ease the financial pressures that push women to delay or avoid childbirth against their true wishes.

And it means challenging norms that tie women’s value solely to motherhood, so that all women—whether they want many children, one child, or none—are free to shape their own futures.

Beyond Numbers: Centering Women’s Choices

Cambodia’s fertility rate tells an important story about how society is changing. But the real question isn’t how many children women have.

It’s whether all women have the power to choose if, when, and how to become mothers—and whether society will share the responsibility for care.

Declining fertility can be a sign of progress only if it goes hand in hand with economic policies that support gender equality, dignify care work, and expand women’s choices. Otherwise, fewer babies won’t mean more freedom—it will simply mean more hidden costs paid by women.