>> A good start, but not enough. We all have to understand that the ONLY way to eliminate poverty is to eliminate poor people...... <<
China has tried that in the past: they killed one third of their own population. What China is discovering is that industrialization does what centralized policy cannot: lower birth rates. If you want to see fantastically quick drops in birth rates, don’t kill babies; industrialize. It removes the incentives for large families.
If you really want to reduce the birth rate, run an industrialized hellhole, like Iran, which is desperate to prop up birth rates. They went from 6.2 children per woman as recently as 1986 to 1.7 today. Algeria went from 7.8 in the 1970s to 1.8. North Korea went from 6.9 to in 1970 to 1.6 in 1998. Viet Nam was at 4 as recently as 1988, and is down to 1.8.
(The worst underpopulation is in places like Russia and South Korea, with fertility rates around 1.2 children per woman.)
Indonesia did an excellent job of achieving population balance, going from 5.6 in about 1970, to 2.4 today. India’s is still a little too high, but much improved, going from about 6 in 1970 to about 2.8 today.
Population growth lags fertility badly, however... India will still be a booming population well through next century.
er.....China’s population drop is directly caused by centralized policy. For years they have allowed only one child per family, by law. Millions of baby girls have been aborted or abandoned or deposited in orphanages.
Industrialization in contrast has had absolutely nothing to do with drops in birth rates. One might argue that increased living standards have made fewer children necessary since large families were once thought of as old age insurance. The idea was, if you managed to raise enough children to adulthood, at least one of them would take care of you in old age. Most people either have the means to support themselves or stupidly believe the government will take care of them now.
The most important reason for declining birth rates the world over is birth control and abortions however. Unlike you, I don’t see declining birth rates as a good thing. The most valuable resource in the world are human minds. The ideas they create make everyone smarter, richer and healthier, the planet cleaner, and life on earth more pleasant.
I think you have been listening to too much socialist propaganda.
How ironic that a majority of Arab Nations (except for hell holes like Saudi Arabia) now boost a below replacement birth rate, much lower than U.S.?