by Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
Dealing with declining birthrates:
Around the world, and especially in the West, birthrates have been in decline. Contrary to the gloom and doom voices of last century, the problem we face is not a population explosion, but a population implosion. Demographic trends are now a real worry for most governments. Consider a few fast facts:
-The current global population is 8.2 billion people.
-It takes 2.1 births per woman to maintain replacement levels.
-The current global fertility rate is 2.2 births per woman, down from around 5 in the 1960s.
-The global fertility rate is expected to keep declining, with the replacement level being reached in 2050 and falling further to 1.8 births per woman in 2100.
-A main way that so many nations are trying to deal with lowering birthrates is to rely on immigration to offset this decline.
All of this means major problems. We have a birth dearth, while our aging populations continue to mushroom. Simply trying to figure out who will pay for the pensions for the elderly with fewer and fewer new people coming on the scene and entering the workplace is just one of the problems that nations now have to deal with.
And failed multiculturalism policies also contribute to the problem. Relying on immigration only works if the arriving masses seek to fit in. But in so many places, large numbers of migrants do not seek to assimilate and embrace the values and beliefs of the host nation. That leads to all sorts of social division and turmoil, as we are seeing in so many nations, be it England, or Germany, or Australia, etc.
So seeking to get birthrates back up is a better way to proceed in most cases. Consider these three countries and what they are seeking to do about these issues – or are not doing.