German Population Shrinks For Fourth Straight Year

Wall Street Journal ^ | 5 January 2007 | AP

[shrinkermd]

BERLIN -- Germany's population fell for a fourth consecutive year in 2006 and recorded the biggest drop since the country's reunification in 1990, the government said Friday, days after launching financial incentives designed to stall falling birth rates.

The number of births, meanwhile, was the lowest since World War II.

At the end of 2006, the number of people living in Germany stood at an estimated 82.31 million, 130,000 below the total at the end of 2005, the Federal Statistics Office said.

Germany's population grew in 2001 and 2002. But since then, a birth rate among the lowest in Europe has contributed to widening annual declines of 5,000, 31,000 and 63,000. Last year, deaths outnumbered births by 150,000, compared to 144,000 in 2005, the statistics office said.

...A recent government study forecast that the population could fall as low as 69 million by 2050.

[Cicero]

As Marc Steyn points out, the same is true of the Italians and the Greeks. Those great big, happy Italian families sitting around the house eating pasta and drinking wine are no more.

And, as Steyn says, you could hardly find a family these days to do "My Big, Fat Greek Wedding." Nobody has aunts or uncles or cousins. The basics of life have changed, and as a result whole races are vanishing.

The same in Japan and Russia.

[mikrofon]

Ich bin ein Birthleaner

[Paulus Invictus]

They will soon have to change the name of Germany to Gerarabia. Steyn was right! Germany is demographic toast, along with Russia and many of the Eurotrash countries.

[Eva]

I read in the WSJ that Germany is offering the equivalent of up to $30,000 to women to stay at home and raise their babies for the first year. They are offered and additional some if the spouse stays home for the next three months. It was causing quite a few women to try to delay delivery of their babies until after the New Year. Germany is hoping that it will inspire young families to have more than one child.

[Chode]

[Red6]

His statement pertained to the "legal" aspect, and that's what I was referring to.

The US does indeed have a higher abortion rate overall compared to Germany and this is also the consequence of not only the West but in particular the South of Germany which compared to the East has a much much much lower rate. More power to them, because I find abortion to be a disgusting side effect of the hedonist society I always remark on.

http://www.abortions.ch/Studie.pdf

However, since the late 90s the laws pertaining to abortion; patricularily those surrounding paragraph 218, have changed significantly, and that's my point.

[Gritty]

Turks everywhere? You must have been in the west.

Yes. West of the Rhine. I can't speak for the east nor other places I wasn't.

Maybe the East's miserable economy is a mixed blessing?

[BobS]

"I've told everyone I know who has the slightest interest in the survival of our civilization that Steyn's book is absolutely required reading."

'Children of Men' is also a movie to see. It's a story about the depopulation of Europe. The hero saves a pregnant woman. Steyn would like to meet the producer/directors, if not write a review of the film. This might be the one exception to his line of work.

[Revolting cat!]

German Population Shrinks For Fourth Straight Year

So what is the average height of a German citizen now? Has it gone under 5 feet yet?

[Tribune7]

The U.S. has the least restrictive abortion laws in the West.

[FormerACLUmember]

The native Germans have made a decision to be infertile and/or murder their babies via abortion. The only babies being born in Germany are muslim and other non-native Germans.

Extinction of the native Germans, Russians, Spanish and Italians seems irreversible.

The End.

[Moonman62]

The problem in modern countries with fertility problems is the acceptance of immorality as normal. Paying people to have babies is going to cause more problems than it solves.

[chilepepper]

abortion clinics have replaced the killing fields of WWI... demographic doom beckons...

[My2Cents]

Thanks for the suggestion. I understand it's out this weekend. I liked Clive Owen in "Arthur."

[Erasmus]

100 years from now Europe will look like a Neutron Hydrogen bomb hit it. AllNo buildings, no people.

[VOA]

Deutschland Unter Alles

[theBuckwheat]

Leftists around the world should be joyous at this news. In their ideology, people are a drain on the government. The fewer people, the less the drain. Besides, humanity is ruining the planet. Germany is setting a good example by allowing its population to decline to zero in an orderly manner, towards a time when no human will drain either the government or the planet of anything.

But wait! Leftists aren't rejoicing. Wonder why? With too few youth, who can be forced to pay for all those government benefits for everyone else?

Leftists are so conflicted by reality.

[Erik Latranyi]

If you have gotten to the part where Steyn talks about the Muslim populatons in the large urban areas, can you cite the statistics?

I believe that in France, cities like Paris have a Muslim population of those under 35 years old at 60% of the total.