"Mr. Seager is so seventies in combining his blame-America-first ideology with warnings of looming environmental disaster. The United States is 130th on the world fertility ranking list, already at a rate of 2.09 children-per-woman, meaning that our population has already stabilized (when every couple produces two kids, total population doesn’t grow)."
"The most fertile European country is Albania at 132 (2.03 children-per-woman). The first West European country in fertility ranking is Iceland at 141 (1.92 children-per-woman). And to find a continental West European country on the fertility list, we have to drop down to France at 154 (1.84 children-per-woman, already helping advance Mr. Seager’s goals, by beginning to depopulate itself). Given these numbers, if Mr. Seager is serious about what he says, he needs to focus his efforts on the Third World and tell them they can’t be having so many kids, because they are causing global warming. "
"(Related question: Anyone care to speculate on whether it’s a positive sign, or a sign of the apocalypse that Afghanistan is now 5th in fertility, at 6.69 children-per-woman?)"
Actually, fertility rates below 2.11 children per woman result in shrinking population due to deaths before puberty, and yes, that's with modern health-care.
Japan's fertility rate has been on a nosedive since the 40s, steadily decreasing throughout that period. (Their "baby boom" was in the 30s and 40s, not the 50s as in the US.) They are presently below 1.25 and dropping.
I read a recent article on the subject that showed the relevant graph, but extended it into the future by showing a quick rebound in the near future to 2.1, maintenance levels, then staying there.
This graph was manufactured out of nothing. The text contained no discussion of any factors that pointed towards such a rebound.
I think people who grew up with the population explosion hysteria just can't get their minds around the fact that Spaniards, Italians, S. Koreans and Japanese are among the most endangered "species" on the planet. As the population of fertile women in these countries age, the window of opportunity for reversing this trend closes, and they are rapidly approaching the point of no return.