Birth dearth

Birth dearth is a neologism referring to falling fertility rates. In the late 1980s, the term was used in the context of American and European society. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE7DD103FF931A25754C0A961948260 "Be Fruitful and Multiply"] , Jamar Jacoby, "New York Times", July 12, 1987] The use of the term has since been expanded to include many other industrialized nations. It is often cited as a response to overpopulation, but is not incompatible with it.

Russia

Russia is often mentioned in articles concerning birth dearth because of its rapidly declining population, and the proposal by Vladimir Putin to offer women additional benefits for having multiple children. It predicted that Russia's population will be an estimated 111 million in 2050, opposed to 147 million as of the year 2000 according to the UN World Population Prospects report (2004 Revision, middle variant).

Europe

As is well known and widely publicized, Europe holds the unique position in the world as the only major geographic region that will decline in population in the coming years as opposed to growing. Indeed, Europe is expected to shed hundreds of millions by 2050 alone with the TFR (Total Fertility Rate) plummeting far below the levels necessary for replacement (Wiki-articles "Sub-replacement fertility" and "Population decline" elaborate on this). Despite the continued growth of many European countries (such as France and Britain), ultimately, even these European countries with 'high' fertility rates will befall the same fate as Germany, Greece, Spain, Italy--the list goes on--, and tip into the red.

World

Claiming that declining fertility is solely a European problem, however, distracts from the true dilemma of the world as a whole: the problem of the next century is not too many people but too few (as quoted from a Newsweek article). Gravely, despite outcries from environmentalists proclaiming the horrors of a world of over 9 billion by the middle of the century, and the ecological effects of such an astounding number of people, this argument fails to mention the second half of the century during which the population of the world will not only stop growing but begin a rapid and disastrous decline as has never before been seen in human history. From the Middle East to South America, Europe's blight will be that of all nations in the 21st century with the exclusion of the United States (due to high fertility among immigrants) and Africa (which will continue to have fertility well above replacement as a result of low Human Development Index and elaborated in the Wiki-article Demographic-economic paradox).

References

External links

* [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6040427/site/newsweek/ "Birth Dearth"] , Michael Meyer, "Newsweek", September 27, 2004
* [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/23/AR2006052301529.html "Behind the Birth Dearth"] , Robert J. Samuelson, "Washington Post", May 24, 2006
* [http://endofspecies.com/ The "End of species" hypothesis] Does demographic decline mark the end of humanity's life cycle? May ET civilizations follow the same path?