THE WORLD SPINNING FROM A DEPOPULATION CRISIS

Real Women of Canada ^

[Bushwacker777]

"Europe has been experiencing terrible problems because of the decline in its birth rates. Never have birth and fertility rates fallen so low for so long, in so many places, as they have in Europe, which has seen 45 consecutive years of fertility decline. As a result, the European Union expects to suffer a net loss of 70 million people by 2050."

[DHerion]

I don't think abortion is the reason for depopulation or declining populations. It has more to do with the wealth of these societies - Japan, U.S., Canada, Europe. The richer a society becomes the birth rate drops. The main reason seems to be women in the workforce. These women tend to have fewer children - either because they have children later in life and therefore have fewer kids or they do not want children to interfere with their careers. In poor countries, including most Mulsim societies, women rarely work outside the home. Women who live this way tend to have more kids. As opportunities slowly open up for women in these societies they will have fewer kids. It's already happening in some countries.

[lilylangtree]

There was an article in this week's paper about zero population growth among the Japanese too.

[ken21]

this is one of the reasons why the u.s. government overlooked illegal immigration for fear that our own economy would be affected by a birth decline. the u.s. birth rate fell to 1.7 in 1978, where a 2.1 is necessary for an even replacement.

[Thebaddog]

Not in my house.

[shaggy eel]

,,, once a country is "blessed" with a high standard of living it seems low population growth follows.

[A. Pole]

Is it?

[Flash Bazbeaux]

the fact is that the "population bomb" has fizzled, permanently. Even in countries that are "overpopulated", the birth rates are in decline. Yet you can still find Zero Population Growth doomsayers worried about overpopulating the planet.

[CzarNicky]

Fertility rates are declining all over the world. Tunisa already has below replacement level fertility and Algeria and Morocco are not too far behind it. And these are the countries that are supposed to take over Europe by colonization. I have stated more that a few times that by 2050 Europe will need immigrants but won't be able to find them.

[Flash Bazbeaux]

Even PBS concedes that the population bomb has fizzled:

Here's a google search result, and what you get when you click on the link:


Paul Ehrlich and The Population Bomb
This PBS companion site offers facts about dwindling natural resources, teaching tools about population growth, and suggestions for becoming involved.www.pbs.org/kqed/population_bomb/ - 19k - May 6, 2005 - Cached - Similar pages

Retired Site

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[struwwelpeter]

When there's bread on the table ;-)

[VadeRetro]

I know we can whip this problem if we all just get out there and ... work on it!

[July 4th]

Or tight-fitting underwear.

[nmh]

Maybe they ought to make abortions ILLEGAL!

[Jack Black]

In societies where people paid their own way through life, de-popualtion would not be a big deal.

Well capitalist economies depend on growth. So depopulation would be a pretty big deal anywhere. It may be much worse in a socialist society, I agree.

[the invisib1e hand]

I don't think abortion is the reason for depopulation or declining populations.

So, you think there is no connection between the acceptance of abortion and the role of women in general -- in the workforce or elsewhere, not to mention the prevailing attitude toward children, families, men, and the purpose of procreation?

You are speaking of but another symptom.

[bikepacker67]

Well capitalist economies depend on growth.

Hmmmm... we better get that Mars colony thingy going then...

[Nowhere Man]

Cannot imagine how this could be true. It's just that people in Western society have become so self-centered ("it's all about me") since the 60s that they might see children - a blessing from God - as an annoyance. Sad and sick.

Yeah, we have tossed a lot of our priorities and morals for the sake of hedonism and we are going to pay for it. Along with the hedonism, it costs a lot to raise children although we can alleviate that with a better tax policy. I remember in the 1980's, West Germany had a programs called "Kindergeld" (Child Money) where the government gave people money to have kids to stem the population shrinkage but even that did not help. Russia today has made abortion past 12 weeks illegal (except in the case of the mother's life) for the same reason.

I keep thinking back to what Michael Savage said, paraphrasing, that "if we don't get back to our values, we deserve to lose to the Islamo-Fascists." A bit crass I know, but all I can say is we need a religious revival in this country and the Western world in general to where we get back to our core values. The 1960's "free love" liberal movement is a cancer on our society that we still feel today.

[paul_fromatlanta]

>>the fact is that the "population bomb" has fizzled, permanently. Even in countries that are "overpopulated", the birth rates are in decline. Yet you can still find Zero Population Growth doomsayers worried about overpopulating the planet.<<

I haven't seen any studies like that - got any links I should look at? Unless something has changed recently, the CIA is still projecting exponential world population growth.

The US census bureau also seems to be projecting great population growth (over 9 billion by 2050).
http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/worldpop.html

[GSlob]

"Europe is not the world."
Well, it is their world spinning.

[patton]

Hey, look. I was so freeking close to Chernyoble, my private parts glow. And I can't use a computer but for a couple of minutes at a time.

But I have three kids, one dun-coloured, one blonde, and one re_.......................