Baby

Bust

‘Baby bust’: Watershed as birth rates in UK and nearly half of world’s countries plunge, forcing more reliance on immigration, report warns

The world is reaching a “watershed” where nearly half of its countries, including the UK, are in the midst of a “baby bust” with birth rates below levels needed to maintain population size, a major international report has found. 

The annual Global Burden of Disease Study, published in The Lancet, shows that 91 of 195 countries now have fertility rates below replacement level – currently 2.05 births on average for every woman. 

The study shows that in 2017 the UK’s fertility rate stood at 1.7 births per woman [U.S. 1.87]. Of 104 nations still in baby boom there are 59 where birth rates are above three children per woman on average.

DYI:  Anyone who thinks the planet will suffer from over population is not up to speed when studying birth rates.  More and more countries are falling below 2 thus planting the mathematical fact of a declining population.  Unless those countries allow immigration their population will decline such as Japan has been doing for over a decade. 

The continent of Africa averages around 5 births per women as compared to the world’s average of 2.5. These numbers have been dropping decade after decade as more and more African countries modernize their economies [in a roller coaster fashion of fits and starts] thus the need of large families for manual labor drops off.  Since mechanization and automation has reduced the need of large families it is supplanted by the need of education to achieve a middle class lifestyle for their children.  Education is expensive in terms of money and time hence it is easier to push schooling for two or three children than five.  And for many countries it drops to one or two as not just basic education is required but advance degrees and/or technical training.  Add on modern pensions plans this reduces the parents need for a large family to take care of them in old age.  Easily within thirty years global population will be on the mathematical path of decline.

DYI