Omarchy Linux creator tells people to have kids

David Heinemeier Hansson, creator of the Omarchy Linux distribution and the Ruby on Rails framework, has written on X that he envies people who have reached four or five children: he and his partner stopped at three. His message ends with a "Be fruitful and multiply!".

**David Heinemeier Hansson** hasn't written about software this time. The creator of **Omarchy**, a Linux distribution based on Arch, and of the **Ruby on Rails** framework, has posted a different kind of message on X: he envies almost no one, but he does envy those who have had four children, or five.

He and his partner stopped at three. If they had met earlier, he writes, there might have been more. He closes with a "Be fruitful and multiply!", the exhortation from Genesis.

## Three kids and envy as an argument

What stands out is the framing: he doesn't talk about duty, he talks about envy. He isn't calling for public policy or pointing fingers at anyone. He shares a small, domestic regret.

**Hansson**, a Dane, is known for speaking his mind about remote work. He has a huge audience in the software world. When someone like that issues a natalist exhortation, people listen.

## Birth rates that aren't recovering

The context is not neutral. Spain recorded **1.12** children per woman in **2023**, according to the INE (Spain's national statistics institute), far below the **2.1** replacement level. Denmark, Hansson's home country, hovers around 1.5.

An engineer with millions of readers saying "have kids" won't move those numbers. And having them is a personal and medical decision that isn't settled on a social network.