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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: NYer

Germans are a selfish lot...and grumpy, too. But you're right, the Turks will have the babies that the Germans don't want to bother with. Wonder what they will decide to call Deutschland when they take over?


41 posted on 03/18/2006 6:16:04 PM PST by kittymyrib
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To: NYer

Engineering problem....


42 posted on 03/18/2006 6:16:40 PM PST by durasell (!)
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To: SWAMPSNIPER

Thanks. I just had a heart attack laughing!


43 posted on 03/18/2006 6:16:46 PM PST by Extremely Extreme Extremist (None genuine without my signature)
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To: SWAMPSNIPER
Image Hosted by The Image Hosting
44 posted on 03/18/2006 6:21:07 PM PST by freebilly
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To: NYer

I thought the world was overpopulated! too many people /s

The uneducated think this is no big deal. A simple population model of this trend is a complete disaster.

Hey, maybe Pope John Paul II really was right, after all.

I cringe when I hear young couples say "we can't afford to have kids".


45 posted on 03/18/2006 6:24:23 PM PST by cowtowney
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To: keithtoo

Disagree. The Roman empire fell due to same forces. Barbarians (Huns, goths, germans..) moved across the border, were quasa-assimilated, bought off, etc. The rest is history.


C.W.


46 posted on 03/18/2006 6:27:06 PM PST by colderwater
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To: keithtoo

Amazing. Never in history has a country been invaded and conquered by inviting in outsiders and then suicidally letting them take over the country by sheer numbers.

USA?


47 posted on 03/18/2006 6:27:53 PM PST by rolling_stone (Question Authority!)
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Comment #48 Removed by Moderator

To: NYer; 1st-P-In-The-Pod; A Jovial Cad; A_Conservative_in_Cambridge; adam_az; af_vet_rr; agrace; ...
They lost world war II. Oh the HUU MEEL EE AY SHUN! How many Jews do they wish to welcome? Ich kann Deutsch sprechen, ich möchte in Deutschland wöhnen, kann ich doch dort Arbeit gefinden?
49 posted on 03/18/2006 6:34:35 PM PST by Alouette (Psalms of the Day: 88-89)
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To: SWAMPSNIPER
Unless he's drinking really light beer, I don't think I'd call him a dieter.

< ];^)

50 posted on 03/18/2006 6:39:27 PM PST by Erasmus (Eat beef. Someone has to control the cow population!)
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To: NYer; All

Just damnnnn OUCH

I think Rummy ancenstor came from Here GERMANY did UK Sunday Telegraph dig up Rummy German family

I hear Rumster have 4 kids and how many grandchildren already


51 posted on 03/18/2006 6:40:41 PM PST by SevenofNine (I'd rather hunt with Dick Cheney than ride with Ted Kennedy)
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To: Atlantic Bridge

Bump!


52 posted on 03/18/2006 6:42:34 PM PST by Incorrigible (If I lead, follow me; If I pause, push me; If I retreat, kill me.)
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To: kittymyrib
Thankfully, most of the second generation Turks are VERY secular. I'm more worried about France, the Netherlands, and Belgium more than I am Germany.

In my time spent in Germany, I've always found most Germans to have the yuppie attitude toward children and "breeders." If you have many children, they see you as "uneducated" and "third world."

53 posted on 03/18/2006 6:44:16 PM PST by Clemenza (Seattle: The Pesto of Cities --- George Costanza)
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To: NYer
Europe is dying.... most societies are already below replacement levels. Imagine an empty continent in two centuries. To think of the alarmists who warned us forty years ago of the specter of overpopulation. If anything, the great threat today is underpopulation. Suddenly, demography is back in the news.

(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")

54 posted on 03/18/2006 6:44:28 PM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)
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To: Proud_USA_Republican
Their citizens in their 20's are too busy dancing to techno to have children.

"Let's dance"

55 posted on 03/18/2006 6:47:45 PM PST by freedumb2003 (American troops cannot be defeated. American Politicians can.)
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To: freebilly

exactly ... muslim countries are populating like wildfire with under-20 populationss reaching nearly 50%


56 posted on 03/18/2006 6:48:08 PM PST by InvisibleChurch (But even if he does not...)
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To: NYer

This birth dearth seems to be affecting all of Europe. I thought I read on FR a couple months ago the French were paying families (native) something like the equivalent of $1,400/month/child to encourage more French babies.


57 posted on 03/18/2006 6:59:21 PM PST by bereanway
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To: freedumb2003; All

TOUCH THE MONKEY OMG I forgot about HIMMM LOLOLOL!


Now I am happy like LITTLE GIRLLLLL ROFL


58 posted on 03/18/2006 7:00:06 PM PST by SevenofNine (I'd rather hunt with Dick Cheney than ride with Ted Kennedy)
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To: rbg81
I'll be happy to knock up some Eurobabes for 'em--no charge!

Horrors!!
Conservative genes polluting the elite gene pool? They'd probably consider your offer a threat

/snigger

59 posted on 03/18/2006 7:00:29 PM PST by ChildOfThe60s
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To: freedumb2003
I think the problem goes much deeper


60 posted on 03/18/2006 7:04:15 PM PST by ChildOfThe60s
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