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BUENOS AIRES, Sept. 3 (UPI) — Argentina’s declining birth rate has drawn renewed attention after President Javier Milei linked the drop in births to the legalization of abortion during at least two public appearances over the past week.

Milei said Argentina’s population is no longer growing at a rate sufficient to ensure generational replacement because of what he called “that passion for murdering children in their mothers’ wombs.” He added that the trend is costing the country dearly in terms of economic growth and its pension system.

But demographic data and experts consulted by UPI challenge Milei’s assertion, noting that the decline began years before abortion was legalized and reflects broader economic and social factors.

Argentina’s birth rate began to fall in 2014, six years before the country legalized abortion in 2020.

According to official data released Wednesday by UNICEF Argentina, the number of births fell by nearly half over the past decade to 413,135 in 2024 from 777,012 in 2014. The fertility rate has reached its lowest level on record at 1.3 children per woman.

Argentina’s trend is part of a global phenomenon, though the decline has been more pronounced in the country. In 2024, Argentina recorded roughly the same number of births as in 1948, despite having three times as many women of reproductive age.

Sociologist and feminist historian Dora Barrancos said Milei’s argument is part of a broader narrative also found among far-right groups in other countries.

“There is a strong ideological focus on blaming feminists and their policies for the decline in the birth rate. From a historical perspective, that explanation has no basis,” she said.

Gala Díaz Langou, director of the International Panel on Social Progress, also rejected abortion as an explanation for the declining birth rate.

“That argument does not hold up. This is a global, multifaceted process,” she said.

Mariana Isasi, head of the United Nations Population Fund office in Argentina, said the declining birth rate reflects tensions between people’s personal aspirations, economic conditions and the way family life is organized.

A recent UNFPA survey on reproductive intentions in Argentina found that 57% of people between ages 18 and 45 would like to have more children.

“There is a gap between the number of children people have and the number they would like to have. This shows that the desire exists, but the conditions to do so are not always there,” Isasi said.

Isasi said conditions were not necessarily better in previous periods, but people today have more tools to make decisions about motherhood.

Uncertainty about the future is another factor influencing decisions about whether to have children. In addition, 20% of those surveyed said they had difficulty finding a suitable partner with whom to have children.

Isasi also noted that Argentina’s adolescent fertility rate has fallen by more than 50%.

“It is good news that teenage girls can continue their education without becoming mothers and can decide later whether they want to have children,” she said.

Another factor is the postponement of motherhood. The average age at which women in Argentina have their first child is 29.2.

“When motherhood is postponed, people may end up having fewer children over the course of their lives,” Isasi said.

Díaz Langou said some of the factors behind the falling birth rate represent positive changes, while others reflect economic and social difficulties.

Among the positive changes, she cited improvements in contraception that allow women’s reproductive decisions to better reflect their preferences and reduce unintended pregnancies.

Economic conditions and the cost of raising children, however, remain major concerns.

“Raising children is very expensive and is becoming increasingly costly because of the limited availability of public care services in Argentina. This is compounded by precarious employment conditions, which affect the real incomes of many people who have children,” Díaz Langou said.

The cost is also linked to the availability of care services. According to a recent analysis by La Cocina de los Cuidados, an intersectoral group focused on care policies, 48 of the 50 national care policies identified by the organization have been eliminated or defunded since December 2023.

The remaining policies have been repealed, cut back or dismantled under Milei’s administration.

Barrancos places the decline in births within a demographic process that began in the second half of the 19th century and reached Argentina by the end of that century.

She said women began to limit the number of children they had long before the expansion of feminism and the movement for women’s right to make decisions about their own bodies.

Barrancos rejected the idea that the decline in births can be attributed to feminism or the legalization of abortion and disputes that the trend represents a threat.

“There is nothing to fear. As the number of children women want to have declines, other forms of family are also growing, including same-sex families seeking to adopt. The alarmist rhetoric of the far right is incompatible with the historical evidence,” she said.

BUENOS AIRES — After a bruising World Cup defeat gave way to what many Argentines saw as a sweeping wave of hatred against their country, Argentine President Javier Milei on Thursday signed an emergency decree empowering the government to deny entry to or expel foreigners who incite discrimination or violence against Argentines because of their nationality.

The measure adds new grounds to Argentina’s immigration law, allowing authorities to bar, deport and revoke visas of people found to have promoted hatred against Argentines in spoken or written statements or who have desecrated national symbols.

“In light of recent displays of hostility toward the Argentine Republic and Argentines, the national government reaffirms that the defense of the nation, its citizens and its symbols is non-negotiable,” the president’s office said. “Anyone who attacks the Argentine Republic is not welcome in our country.”

The move marks a sharp shift for a country that has long prided itself on welcoming immigrants. Argentina’s Constitution explicitly encourages immigration, and for decades the country has offered foreigners broad civil rights and relatively easy access to legal residency, public education and healthcare.

Milei’s office cast the decree as a response to weeks of criticism from celebrities, opposing fans and social media users after controversial refereeing decisions fueled speculation that FIFA had tilted the tournament in favor of the reigning champions and superstar Lionel Messi.

Condemnations of occasionally aggressive Argentine fans and the team’s roughhousing on the pitch soon broadened into attacks on Argentine society as a whole, amplifying long-standing criticism that Argentines view themselves as culturally and economically superior to their Latin American neighbors. Online petitions to expel Argentina from the World Cup drew hundreds of thousands of signatures.

The backlash intensified when Argentina players and staff became involved in a post-match brawl with Spanish opponents after the World Cup final.

FIFA, global soccer’s governing body, on Wednesday opened disciplinary proceedings against the Argentine Football Assn. over the scuffle, as well as over alleged racist abuse and fan misconduct. Players also faced a FIFA investigation into their parading of a banner that asserted Argentina’s claim to the British-controlled Falkland Islands after the team’s semifinal victory over England.

Milei, a close ally of President Trump’s, has described the torrent of criticism as an “anti-Argentina campaign.” He alleged without evidence last week that the left-wing governments of Brazil and Mexico and the U.S. Democratic Party had financed the effort to stigmatize Argentina to discredit his libertarian government.

His accusations and insults triggered a diplomatic crisis with neighbor Brazil, which recalled its ambassador to Argentina last weekend.

Thursday’s decree says the punishments don’t apply to ideological disagreement or political, academic or civic criticism protected under Argentina’s Constitution.

But it leaves unanswered how officials will distinguish protected speech from prohibited hate speech, whether immigration authorities will review foreigners’ social media activity and how aggressively the new powers will be enforced against tourists and longtime residents.

Debre writes for the Associated Press.

Flavio Bolsonaro, son of disgraced former Brazilian President Jair, has launched his bid to unseat President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Flavio is vowing to carry forward his father’s legacy and has won right wing support from Argentina’s President Milei.

Right-wing candidate Flavio Bolsonaro attracts foreign support, but struggles in polls ahead of matchup with President Lula.

Flavio Bolsonaro has inaugurated the official beginning of his Brazilian presidential campaign, touting support from right-wing figures such as Argentinian President Javier Milei and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Bolsonaro, son of former president Jair Bolsonaro and long considered the presumptive candidate of Brazil’s political right, launched his formal bid challenging President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Saturday.

“This is more than a party convention,” Bolsonaro said in remarks to his father’s Liberal Party.

“This is the beginning of the toughest battles of our life. A fight between good and evil.”

Recent polls have shown Bolsonaro trailing the left-wing Lula, as his bid for the presidency struggles to right itself after a number of setbacks and scandals.

While Saturday’s event included endorsement remarks from right-wing heavyweights such as Milei and Netanyahu, few prominent Brazilian politicians were in attendance.

Centre-right parties have largely kept their distance, and Flavio’s father – currently serving a 27-year prison sentence for a coup attempt following his loss to Lula in 2022 – was present at the convention only in the form of a video made with AI.

Milei delivered ‌a fiery speech criticising Lula and declaring that Bolsonaro can “save” Brazil from socialism.

The Argentinian president flew to Brazil the night before the event and met on Saturday with Sao Paulo Governor Tarcisio de Freitas.

“We will continue offering our testimony everywhere against the lies of socialism,” Milei said.

Netanyahu offered support via a short video message.

“Flavio, my friend, I want to congratulate you on the official launching of your campaign,” Netanyahu said in the recording, according to the Brazilian outlet Metropoles. “You’re a great champion of Brazil, you’re a great champion of the friendship between our peoples.”

Lula’s Workers Party is set to hold its own convention on August 2, confirming the 80-year-old president’s re-election bid.

Bolsonaro and his allies have also suffered from criticisms that they have tried to use their ties to the administration of US President Donald Trump to boost his campaign, inviting US intervention in a variety of issues that many Brazilians see as a form of foreign meddling.

Like his father, Flavio has also raised alarm by repeating false claims about the reliability of Brazil’s election infrastructure, seen as a pretext for possible efforts to deny the legitimacy of the voting process in the event of a loss to Lula.

The AFP news agency reported on Saturday that Brazil had denied visas to a pair of Trump administration officials who sought to meet with the country’s election authorities to discuss “freedom of expression related to the elections”.

July 18 (UPI) — Brazil’s top court on Saturday denied a request from former President Jair Bolsonaro to be visited by Argentinian President Javier Milei while under house arrest.

The attempted visit by Milei, a political ally of the far-right Bolsonaro, was part of a campaign to drum up political support for the son of the former president, who is running against leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Bolsonaro is serving a 27-year sentence for a coup attempt but has been in his home in Brasilia since March due to his health condition.

He was already barred from participating in national politics as part of his sentence.

But Bolsonaro was placed under further restrictions on Friday for breaching conditions of his house arrest, after he wrote a political letter supporting his son’s candidature for president.

The son, right-wing state Sen. Flavio Bolsonaro, then showed the endorsement letter during a live stream on social media.

Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes barred Bolsonaro from receiving any visits of a “political-electoral” nature until after Brazil’s general elections in October.

Bolsonaro’s defense lawyers argued in court he was unaware that his son would divulge his writing on social media, though the former president titled the text “letter to the Brazilian people.”

“The letter — written and personally signed by Jair Messias Bolsonaro — was addressed ‘to the Brazilian people,’ demonstrating that it was not of a private nature but rather intended for political and electoral purposes, with dissemination to the general public, using Flavio Nantes Bolsonaro as an intermediary, or in his own words, as his ‘spokesperson,'” Moraes wrote in his decision, G1 reported.

“The text of the ‘Letter to the Brazilian People,’ therefore, clearly shows that Jair Messias Bolsonaro intended to communicate with his political supporters through his son’s social media accounts,” the justice added.

Bolsonaro is now barred from receiving visits for 30 days, except by his medical and legal teams.

He is also not allowed to be visited by his son for 90 days.