[friendly]

Why is it that so often that the wonderful decent, good, people of America are infertile?

[Poohbah]

Why is it that so often that the wonderful decent, good, people of America are infertile?

Because they've bought in on the notion that they can only have one kid, or they get married too late, or they are both employed (two-income families tend to find the breadwinners too stressed to boink each other--which IS a precondition for having kidlets), et cetera, and so on, and so forth, and the beat goes on...

[Servant of the Nine]

Why is depopulation a disaster?
There is absolutely no need for more than a billion people. Land is finite. Less people makes more land available for the ones left.

So9

[AntiGuv]

Russia's population is dropping - as the article alludes - because in the post-Soviet era men in general feel they cannot afford a family, and are also managing to kill themselves off at a faster rate. It has very little connection or relevance to why birthrates are dropping in Western Europe & America.

[SamAdams76]

Here are two interesting charts. One shows the top 15 countries by population in 2002. The other chart shows the projected top 15 countries by population in 2050 - based on today's birth/death rate trends.

Note that India passes China as the most populous country while the United States stays at number three. Meanwhile, Russia nearly drops off the chart and Germany and France are nowhere to be found.

World’s Largest Countries in 2002

Rank	Country	Population (millions)
1	China	1,281
2	India	1,050
3	United States	287
4	Indonesia	217
5	Brazil	174
6	Russia	144
7	Pakistan	144
8	Bangladesh	134
9	Nigeria	130
10	Japan	127
11	Mexico	102
12	Germany	82
13	Philippines	80
14	Vietnam	80
15	Egypt	71

World’s Largest Countries in 2050

Rank	Country	Population (millions)
1	India	1,628
2	China	1,394
3	United States	413
4	Pakistan	332
5	Indonesia	316
6	Nigeria	304
7	Brazil	247
8	Bangladesh	205
9	Congo, Dem. Rep. of	182
10	Ethiopia	173
11	Mexico	151
12	Philippines	146
13	Vietnam	117
14	Egypt	115
15	Russia	102

[oyez]

According to Dr Paul Erlich depopulation would be a good thing.

[Constantine XIII]

There are few things that p!$$ me off more than the "Down With People" movement. Grrr

[Centurion2000]

bump .... looks like this just might be the asian century then.

[spodefly]

Why is it that so often that the wonderful decent, good, people of America are infertile?

Don't worry. We are 'importing' all the people we will need to stress social services, infrastructure, and further burden the few remaining taxpayers. They are reproducing at 3 times WASP rates. By 2050, the top 5 countries in population will all be 3rd world, including the US.

[Desdemona]

ping

[Cacique]

The womb is the greatest weapon of mass destruction. The arabs have it, we don't.

[Aquinasfan]

HUMANE VITAE
ENCYCLICAL OF POPE PAUL VI 
ON THE REGULATION OF BIRTH

July 25, 1968

[dirtboy]

"According to one Professor Antonov, 'Two thirds of Russian territory is settled now as sparsely as it was in the Neolithic Age: less than one person per square kilometer

I'm not quite sure what this is supposed to prove, as many of the Russians living east of the Urals were forced by the Soviets to move there. I would imagine many of them returned back west the first chance they got.

[steve-b]

Paul Ehrlich and Herbert London -- two mirror-image junk scientists with the same phony gloom-n-doom.

[steve-b]

According to one Professor Antonov, 'Two thirds of Russian territory is settled now as sparsely as it was in the Neolithic Age: less than one person per square kilometer.

Why wasn't this posted in Breaking News -- AMAZING DISCOVERY: SCIENTIST FIGURES OUT THAT HARDLY ANYBODY WANTS TO LIVE ON ARCTIC TUNDRA!

Sheesh.

[steve-b]

Steyn recommends: "Next time you're in a rundown diner and the 17-year-old waitress is eight months pregnant, don't tut "What a tragedy" and point her to the nearest Planned Parenthood clinic. Leave her a large tip instead. She's doing the right thing, not just for her, but for all of us."

I've already been flamed once on this supposedly conservative forum for pointing out the stupidity of actively rewarding such behavior. I'm not sure if it's because "conservatives" don't think that getting knocked up at 17 is irresponsible, or because they think that personal irresponsibility should be subsidized in general.

[VOA]

All I know is that after 9-11, I'm (relatively) happy that my country is being
over-run by Catholic (and increasingly Protestant) Mexicans...than by Muslims.

I'm sure this makes me a bigot in many circles...

[SunkenCiv]

Ping.

[SunkenCiv]

Note: this topic is from about five years ago. Maybe Putin lurks on FR. ;')

[steve-b]

Steyn recommends: "Next time you're in a rundown diner and the 17-year-old waitress is eight months pregnant, don't tut "What a tragedy" and point her to the nearest Planned Parenthood clinic. Leave her a large tip instead.

Steyn is an idiot. Someone with no proper means of supporting herself (the image that comes to mind is a greasy spoon, not l'Maison Ritz) has no business having kids -- and if she is, I'm almost certainly having my pocket picked already to pay for it, and can only compensate a bit by leaving no tip at all.

[Campion]

Steyn recommends: "Next time you're in a rundown diner and the 17-year-old waitress is eight months pregnant

Statistically, the girl who gets pregnant out of wedlock at 17 is likely to have, lifetime, only one or two children. It's better that she doesn't abort, but far better if she waits until she's 24 and then enters a stable, happy marriage.

Better than congratulating the waitress, how about thanking the 30-40 year old harried, married mother with 3 or 4 or 5 kids in tow at the supermarket for her generosity with life?

People with large families run into a fair amount of "tut-tut" disparagement and disapproval ... even from those who have no business expressing such, like their superiors at work.