Nihilism and Depopulation

Declining birthrates have weighed on my mind for 20 years, since I saw that the population explosion didn’t happen. Then, from train windows crossing Eastern Europe, I saw empty villages and derelict public buildings. Who would want to move there now? Can anyone raise a family when there’s hardly a store or a school in sight? But why are the young women from so many entire countries so hesitant to have children? It’s surely partly their male partners and logistics: funds, childcare, house space, health care. But can the problem be partly ontological?