On April 9, 2024, the Fudan Institute for Global Public Policy (IGPP) organized the 53rd lecture of the Fudan-LSE Lecture Series. Professor Ayo Wahlberg from the University of Copenhagen delivered a lecture on the topic of Fertility exhaustion in the 21st century. The lecture was chaired by Professor Jianfeng Zhu from the Fudan School of Social Development and Public Policy with Associate Professor Mei Ding serving as the commentator. Professor Wahlberg is a professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Copenhagen. He focuses on prominent issues in the field of medical sociology, including the modernization of traditional herbal medicine, reproductive and genetic technologies, and clinical health indicators. The Chinese translation of Professor Wahlberg’s award-winning work, “Good Quality: The Routinization of Sperm Banking in China,” is scheduled to be published in the near future.

Professor Wahlberg introduced the context of declining global fertility rates. He emphasized the need to go beyond individual desires for reproduction and instead focus on macro factors such as the biological environment, socioeconomic conditions, and legislation. Unfortunately, these broader aspects such as work, environment, and health, society as a whole demonstrates noticeable signs of exhaustion. He believes that influenced by these socioeconomic factors, the exhaustion of reproduction is manifested at the micro level as work-related stress leading to parental fatigue, shifts in family roles and expectations, changes in marriage and fertility values, as well as concerns about ecological reproduction.

Professor Ding provided commentary on the lecture. Drawing on her research and interviews with healthcare professionals, she elucidated the underlying logic behind the occurrence of fertility exhaustion in China. Lastly, the lecture sparked enthusiastic discussions among the faculty and students in attendance, further deepening their understanding of global fertility conditions and policies.