Erdogan Wants Turkey to Have More Babies. Few Parents Are Listening. Using cash grants and subsidized loans, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government is trying to increase the birthrate. It’s not working.

Turkey’s total fertility rate — or the average number of children a woman is expected to have — has been declining for more than a decade. It now sits significantly below the 2.1 needed to keep the population stable without migration, much less to increase it. Demographers attribute the decline to factors common in countries around the world: urbanization, changing lifestyles and the spread of higher education, especially among women. They also blame the economy shaped by Mr. Erdogan’s economic policies. Persistently high inflation and low wages have left many families struggling to afford housing, child care and other necessities....