Let me suggest 5 major drivers: Meritocratic civil service exams encouraged heavy investment in education. China institutionalised this first, but the system then spread across East Asia. Education became seen as the pathway for social mobility. Education fever has spawned an arms race of intensive parenting.
Let me add one more suggestion - men. For fertility rates to rise, women need to know that having kids isn't going to kill their careers. That depends on having all-in fathers and partners at home. And workplaces and bosses that encourage men to balance their care responsibilities.
This is far truer in some cultures than others.
Here's a related piece I wrote on this a few years back in FORBES, titled
The Cost of Underestimating the Rise of Women: No Babies
Let me add one more suggestion - men. For fertility rates to rise, women need to know that having kids isn't going to kill their careers. That depends on having all-in fathers and partners at home. And workplaces and bosses that encourage men to balance their care responsibilities.
This is far truer in some cultures than others.
Here's a related piece I wrote on this a few years back in FORBES, titled
The Cost of Underestimating the Rise of Women: No Babies
https://www.forbes.com/sites/avivahwittenbergcox/2019/11/24/the-cost-of-under-estimating-the-rise-of-women-no-babies/?sh=3e636648189c