The world is not in danger of overpopulation as has been feared, but rather declining population, says Philip Longman, senior fellow at the New America Foundation. While the perception is that the world population will continue to grow at a rapid pace, a closer look at demographic trends shows otherwise:
Longman says the root cause of this trend is falling birth rates. Today, the average woman in the world bears half as many children as did her counterpart in 1972. Furthermore, no industrialised nation still produces enough children to sustain its population over time or to prevent rapid population aging:
The changing economics of family life is the prime factor in discouraging child-bearing. In nations rich and poor, as more and more people move to urban areas in which children offer little or no economic reward to their parents, and as women acquire economic opportunities and reproductive control, the costs of child-bearing continue to rise, explains Longman.
uSource: Phillip Longman, The Global Baby Bust, Foreign Affairs, June 2004.
For text http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20040501faessay83307/phillip-longman/the-global-baby-bust.html
For more on Demographic Trendshttp://www.ncpa.org/iss/soc/
FMF Policy Bulletin/12 October 2004
