Posted on 08/28/2011 2:37:30 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
A child in a Hamburg residential complex: A new report has found that parents in 7 percent of German households can't afford to finance hobbies for their children.
Despite substantial subsidies aimed at increasing the birthrate, the number of children in Germany continues to shrink. A new report by the federal government has found there are 14 percent fewer children under 18 than in 2000 -- and 15 percent of them, alarmingly, live in poverty.
For Germany, the figures are the warning signs of a demographic time bomb in a fast-graying society. The number of children under the age of 18 in Germany sank to 13.1 million in 2010, down 14 percent from 2000, the German Federal Statistical Office reported Wednesday. The drop came despite considerable efforts by the German government to reverse the declining birthrate through subsidies made directly to parents and for their childcare.
As a percentage of the overall population, Germany has fewer children than any other country in Europe. Only 16.5 percent of the population is younger than 18 years of age. In other European countries, like France, Great Britain and the Netherlands, those figures are over 20 percent. In Turkey, almost one-third of the country's population of more than 72 million people is younger than 18. The countries in Europe with the smallest populations of children are Germany, Bulgaria (16.7 percent) and Italy (16.9 percent).
The study, presented in Berlin and based on data from a 2010 micro-census of Germany, also provides other alarming figures related to childhood poverty .
(Excerpt) Read more at spiegel.de ...
When I was younger, the last thing I thought would happen would be to witness the demise of Western civilization because people would reproduce themselves.
News flash: They’re all really small and their hands are tinny.
Can’t afford hobbies? Doesn’t the EUSSR fund midnight basketball? Oh right, all their spending money is going to bailout other countries.
This whole subject is analyzed brilliantly in the book “America Alone” by Mark Steyn.
“would” should be “would not”
Can’t afford hobbies? Doesn’t the EUSSR fund midnight basketball? Oh right, all their spending money is going to bailout other countries.
And how many of those “German” children are really ethnic Germans?
It would be interesting to know what “can’t afford to finance hobbies” means, exactly. Can’t afford a library card so the child can read? Can’t get a pair of shoes so he can run? No pencils and paper so he can draw? How about cooking - they’ve got no flour, stove, or pans?
Or does it mean that there is some specific hobby in which a child might be interested, but the family cannot afford the costs for that activity? Well, duh. We can’t afford rodeo or competitive ice skating for all our children, either.
“...German households can’t afford to finance hobbies for their children...”
-
My hobbies as a lad?
Pretending a stick was a gun and playing cowboys and indians.
Making a fort out of hay bales.
Daming up a sandy creek.
Making a house out of a big corrugated box.
Fishing.
Reading.
Baseball in the cow lot.
“Red Light”, “Simon Says”, and “Hide-And Seek”.
None of those things cost any money.
Hobby stamps. Social justice requires that the government hand out hobby stamps to the disadvantaged yoots.
They might not be able to afford hobbies but they can certainly afford that great German bier!!!!!
Stargazing is a pretty cheap hobby. Some star maps and a pair of binoculars.
Drawing needs only some paper and a pencil.
Model rockets?
I’m not exactly sure what these wonder hobbies are that are so out of reach.
They'll get the TAXPAYERS to fund a new Department -- The Department of youth hobbies.
Midnight basketball?? They got Midnight SOCCER!!
Hobbies are easy! When I was a kid our hobbies were making and flying kites, fishing, camping, catching fireflies etc. None of those hobbies cost any money to speak of.
Then we found a few Playboy magazines and we had a REAL hobby :0...one that you can practice throughout your life!
As of 2009, there are 4.3 million Muslims (5.4% of the population).
Of these, 1.9 million are German citizens (2.4%).
Islam is the largest minority religion in Germany.
Here’s a wiki of the list of countries by Muzzy population.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Muslim_population
sports, music lessons, computer games
These are the modern day hobbies and they are extremely expensive since kids think they need to have all the latest crap now days.
Oh, that’s terribly sad. I have a son who wants flying lessons. “Turn 18, get a job, make me your life insurance beneficiary,” I said.
I wish i hadn’t read your post...now I will have to eat more ice cream to deal with these stats.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.