Poor Cardinal Joachim Meisner of Germany. He has made headlines (even in English language newspapers) by suggesting that Germany had a demographic problem that should not be solved by immigration. Instead, he suggested that women should stay home and have children. As The Local reports: Read more…
Here’s a little something from a devoted fan of this blog (thank you Thomas!). And it doesn’t come as much of a surprise, but according to AsiaNews.it in the year to 1 April, there were fewer births in Japan than the year before. That may not be surprising because for some years now (since 2007) Japan’s natural change in population has been in the negative. Therefore it makes sense that it might be having fewer children than the year before. What may be somewhat surprising is that this is not a new phenomenon. In fact, according to the headline it has happened for the last 32 years! Now I’m not sure where the headline comes from, for according to Wiki, the number of births in Japan rose between 2006 and 2007. But what I can see from Wiki is that in 1980, there were 1 576 889 births and in 2012 there were only 1 033 000 births. So whether or not the 32 years claim is strictly true, there is agreement that over the past 32 years the number of births in Japan has declined by about a third. Read more…
In a recent piece, I talked about how increasing longevity was affecting technologically advanced societies in ways that only occasionally come to the surface. Pope Benedict broke with tradition by resigning due to advanced age, for example, rather than dying in office. Popes of old didn’t usually live long enough to face the problem. Read more…
The challenge for Western countries in the short to medium term is that the number of workers that they have to support their economies (and social support networks) is declining or set to decline. We’ve banged on about this challenge here at Demography is Destiny for a while now. According to a report in the Economist, not only will an aging population eventually result in fewer workers, but as those workers age they will also be less productive. Read more…
by Michael Cook
We’ve all read about “American exceptionalism” – the idea that America is great because it is different. Because of a unique combination of historical, sociological, religious and political factors, it offers something special to the world. Read more…
by Elard Koch
What makes Chile and Ireland similar countries in matters of maternal health and abortion? In September 2012 I had the invaluable opportunity to participate as a member of the Committee on Excellence in Maternal Healthcare, convened in Dublin to analyze the experience of Ireland, Chile, and other countries with a high standard in maternal health around the world. The meeting was crowned with the Declaration of Dublin. Read more…
I was talking with a Catholic college student who is enrolled in a graduate level demography class on fertility at a major state university. She said that when her classmates make snarky remarks about “those Catholics” and their large families, the whole class nods knowingly in agreement. Read more…
Here is my last report on the World Family Map — on family culture, which covers attitudes to voluntary singe motherhood, working mothers, children’s need for both a mother and a father, and family trust. The findings are based on the World Values Survey1981-2008. Read more…
In addition to family structure and economics, the World Family Map project is looking at family “processes” such as adult satisfaction with their family life, agreement or otherwise about household work, family discussions on social issues and family meals. It is also looking at family culture — attitudes towards single motherhood, working mothers, children’s need for a mother and a father, and trust within families.
On these measures the richest societies are not necessarily top performers. Read more…
by Scott Yenor, who will be a presenter at Ruth Institute’s ITAF 2013.
This article was first published at The Public Discourse on February 26, 2013.
Jonathan Last’s new book attributes population decline and the birth dearth to two trends that started in the Enlightenment era—first, an effort to limit death; second, an effort to control birth. Both trends are guided by a desire to control nature. Read more…
Loading ...
