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German Birthrate Hits Bottom: Lowest in Europe
LifeSite ^ | March 17, 2006 | Gudrun Schultz

Posted on 03/18/2006 3:13:31 PM PST by NYer

BERLIN, Germany, March 17, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Germany’s birth rate is now the lowest in Europe. Only 8.5 babies were born in Germany last year for every 1,000 residents.

In 1964, 1.36 million babies were born in Germany. In 2005, half as many children were born, at just 680,000—the birth rate hasn’t been this low since the end of the Second World War, according to the Federal Statistical Office.

The German city of Chemnitz, in former East Germany, has the lowest birth rate in the world, with 6.9 babies born per 1,000 residents.

“The tradition in the 1950s, 60s and even the 80s in Germany was that a mother was only a mother and looked after the children,” Michael Hüther, who heads up Cologne’s economics institute, told the Guardian.

 “We are reaching a critical point,” he said to Die Welt newspaper. “The number of births now determines what happens in the next decade-and-a-half to two decades. You can’t revise it afterwards. The availability of human capital will get worse, and act as a brake on growth.”

Efforts to shore up the birth rate have been mainly unsuccessful so far. Germany’s family minister Ursula von der Leyen introduced tax breaks last year to help couples that wanted children. Increased nursery places and a new state-funded welfare scheme requiring men to take two months off work for families to qualify were also introduced, but none of the changes have had a significant impact on the rate of birth.

All of Europe is facing the same plummeting birthrate. According to Eurostat, the EU’s statistics agency, by 2050 Europe’s population will have fallen by around 1.5%, or 7 million people. The birth rate in Britain is at 12 births per 1,000 residents. In France the number is 12.7, in the Netherlands 11.9, and in Ireland 15.2.

 In Eastern Europe and the Baltic states, birth rates are falling as well. Poland’s rate is 9.3, Bulgaria is at 9 and Latvia has one of the lowest rates, at 8.8.




TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Germany; News/Current Events; Philosophy; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: birthrate; britain; bulgaria; europe; germany; ireland; latvia; lowest; netherlands; poland; uk
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To: archy
The least we could do for Germany would be to send them ten or fifteen million *Hispanic* illegal Mexicans

I'm sure the Germans would appreciate Mexicans instead of the Muslim Turks they have now.

101 posted on 03/20/2006 1:44:04 PM PST by Alouette (Psalms of the Day: 97-103)
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To: freedumb2003
"Let's dance"

Besser! Tanz Mit Laibach!

102 posted on 03/20/2006 1:45:37 PM PST by archy (I am General Tso. This is my Chief of Staff, Colonel Sanders....)
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To: NYer; Happygal; Colosis; Black Line; Cucullain; SomeguyfromIreland; Youngblood; Fergal; Cian; ...
In France the number is 12.7, in the Netherlands 11.9, and in Ireland 15.2.

Ireland's rate is still high - for now.

103 posted on 03/20/2006 3:27:20 PM PST by Irish_Thatcherite (~~~A vote for Bertie Ahern is a vote for Gerry Adams!~~~)
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To: ChildOfThe60s
Thanks (I think) for your post 94. How discouraging it is to see the percentages of unmarried pregnancies, especially among the minorities.

I suppose that I am just old-fashioned but I cannot understand why pregnancies even happen outside marriage, what with the availability of excellent birth control methods available. For example, I have lived 60+ years and have never caused a pregnancy, mainly because I opted for a vasectomy. But I think that I could have achieved the same result with condoms.

I sign on to something I once read about: the development of a method (not yet available) whereby pregnancy is forced to be a positive development, i.e., it would be impossible for a woman to become pregnant until a "lock-unlock" mechanism is activated. The woman and her partner would have to make the decision to have a baby and the "lock" would be undone. Sure, it reeks a bit of government control, but only to an extent since the couple would have final say. Obviously, the current system doesn't work very well (your data show that) and anything like this would have to be a positive change.

104 posted on 03/20/2006 4:52:12 PM PST by OldPossum
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To: OldPossum
With reference to my dismay at the number of unmarried pregnancies, I should add that the children of these pregnancies come into the world with a number of strikes against them, most notabley the absence of a father. I am assuming that most of the men of these unmarried pregnancies just leave.

Unmarried pregnancies also encourage the abominable practice of abortion. Damned if an unmarried woman carries a pregnancy to term, damned if she doesn't.

105 posted on 03/20/2006 4:58:47 PM PST by OldPossum
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To: CheyennePress
We ain't that far behind. I'm planning on 3

Well, I don't consider you a parent until you are outnumbered. ;)

106 posted on 03/20/2006 5:09:06 PM PST by FatherofFive (Choose life!)
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To: NYer

There are an awful lot of ethnic Germans in the United States, myself included. Maybe more than there are in Germany, for all I know. Too bad there is absolutely nothing in the old country that would entice them to return. Who wants to sign on for the demographic collapse, and pay all one's life into a welfare scheme only to have your throat slit on the day you retire?


107 posted on 03/20/2006 5:13:34 PM PST by bondjamesbond (RICE '08)
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To: archy

I'd prefer to send off the Muslims.


108 posted on 03/20/2006 5:59:35 PM PST by B4Ranch (The truth is good for you, like sunlight, but too much all at once can really hurt.)
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To: wrathof59

you're absolutely right - uniformed whole sale criticism, hate and ignorance are the only solutions for any problem.


109 posted on 03/21/2006 8:03:20 AM PST by globalheater (There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare - Sun Tzu)
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To: kittymyrib

your correct - selfish and grumpy are my surnames.


110 posted on 03/21/2006 8:05:35 AM PST by globalheater (There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare - Sun Tzu)
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To: ChildOfThe60s

so - there's 70 abortions in 163 pregnancies of black woman that are not married ?

I am just speechless.


111 posted on 03/21/2006 8:16:49 AM PST by globalheater (There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare - Sun Tzu)
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To: Alouette

and why ?


112 posted on 03/21/2006 8:17:34 AM PST by globalheater (There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare - Sun Tzu)
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To: globalheater

I don't mean it as such, but what I am going to say could be construed as racist by some. That is, these numbers are the basis for the argument that is being made that unrestricted abortions are damaging future prospects for the DIMocrats. i.e. most of these aborted babies would have ended up as DIMS.

Interesting idea, but I don't agree, for several reasons.

Anyway, the thing that is really significant (besides the future economic implications) is that abortion is being used as a primary means of birth control. Taxpayers get screwed eitheer way. Paying for welfare babies or paying for the cost of the abortions (not chump change).


113 posted on 03/21/2006 8:57:29 AM PST by ChildOfThe60s
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To: B4Ranch
I'd prefer to send off the Muslims.

We have somewhere else in mind for them.


114 posted on 03/21/2006 11:21:01 AM PST by archy (I am General Tso. This is my Chief of Staff, Colonel Sanders....)
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To: ChildOfThe60s

It's horrible - it means that 40% of the children of unmarried black women get aborted. It's nearly a routine.

BTW I certainly do not care what the costs of abortions are.

There's a possibility to abort with a pill - really cheap and benign method. But that's not the point. And it of no importance if and who these unborn children had voted for if they had not been killed.

We got 7 of 1000 pregnancies aborted in germany. Every abortion is a drama since we got more parents willing to adopt a child then new borns given away by their mothers.

If mothers can't stand giving birth after beeing raped or because of an other real exceptional condition I always considered it the right of the mother to have the last word may it be yes or no - because no mother would make a decision like that light heartedly.

I have to change my mind I guess.


115 posted on 03/21/2006 1:54:46 PM PST by globalheater (There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare - Sun Tzu)
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To: globalheater

Heck, look at the unmarried white numbers. It's over 40% there, also. The only difference is that a much higher number of unmarried blacks get pregnant to begin with.

Another interesting question here is, how many of these 40% aborted pregnancies are repeat abortions? We do know that some of these women have had multiple abortions. But, how many?


116 posted on 03/21/2006 2:09:47 PM PST by ChildOfThe60s
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