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So, that’s that problem solved

Women are required to have 2.1 children each on average to maintain population growth, known as the “total fertility rate”, and as of 2021 it stood at 2.23 worldwide.

But experts say it is on a persistently downward trend, having fallen from 4.84 in 1950, and researchers predict it will decrease to 1.83 in 2050 and 1.59 by 2100.

No, it wasn’t solved by contraception – it is desired fertility that hsa fallen, not just actual. It also wasn;t solved by government action or insistence. It happened simply because humanity got gloriously rich. So rich that we solved the problem of 50% of kids dying by puberty. Thus the number of kids necessary to have a sporting chance of grandchildren – that win in the evolutionary race – fell. Plus that idea that as there are other things to do in life now therefore less of any one thing is done.

And that’s it. Capitalism and free markets for the win then. For that is what has caused this.

9 thoughts on “So, that’s that problem solved”

  1. Well the stated problem may be solved but the problem of declining and unbalanced population now needs to be considered. We need a better solution than rich countries importing poor people to flatten the curve of age. This is of course a ponzi scheme, a can-kicking exercise, destroying the country in order to save it.

    We need a plan to manage the age profile, get through the bulge of boomers* without bringing in more people to be a problem when they retire. End up with a smaller but richer population. Somehow.

    * It may be that the plan is already in place in the UK, and it’s called the NHS.

  2. I’m reminded of the great Chinese panic about over-population, and the consequent one child policy.

    My reaction to this is therefore ‘shrug’.

    Just as the panic about the next ice age has morphed into the panic about global warming, I’m sure the fuss about dropping population will soon change back into one about standing room only.

  3. The Greens and Socialists (but I repeat myself) insist there are too many humans in the world, so: job done, wipes hands.

  4. Call it capitalism or call it urbanisation.
    But when the civilised world fails to reproduce and the birth rate is highest in the deepest shitholes I can restrain my optimism.

  5. It is not a ‘win’ for ‘capitalism’ or ‘free markets’ (as if) that young British women are not having children. It is – among other things – the ruination of our country.

  6. “Thus the number of kids necessary to have a sporting chance of grandchildren – that win in the evolutionary race – fell”

    Ah, but is that number now going up again in the First World, because of homosexuality (even if it’s not increasing, the public practice of it is, rather than getting married, having a couple of children and doing the other quietly on the side), transvestism (ditto), general lack of sociability, not having children due to eco-fretting, etc. etc.? So you might need more than two children to have one that will produce grandchildren.

    Isn’t there already a trend of larger families in the upper-middle class, possibly for those reasons?

  7. What might encourage young people to couple up and have kids? Well, I don’t think it’s realistic to clear the whole problem that way, but if they could afford houses, and those houses were NOT soulless cramped rabbit hutches in inconvenient places there might be some improvement. It will be necessary to deflate the housing market but between our host’s exploding of the planning laws and the banning of all but essential immigration we can do that. Then we have the ever-so-tiny problemette with all the fear and guilt we can instilled into the kids. I dunno how to fix that.

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