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A Staggering Birthrate Decline Clouds Europe's Future |
| Section: CURRENT ISSUES / FEATURE |
| Author: David R. Sands |
| Publication:
The World & I Online |
| Issue Date: 1/1/2006 |
| Size: 1,720 Words, 11,072 Characters |
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In the cradle of Western civilization, the cradles are empty. From the Atlantic to the Urals, in good and bad economies, in Protestant and Catholic societies, the countries of Europe are witnessing an unprecedented decline in birthrates.
This "baby bust," analysts warn, will affect economic growth, social-welfare programs, patterns of immigration and Europe's ability to pull its weight diplomatically, culturally and militarily in the 21st century.
In 1900, according to U.N. estimates, one out of four human beings on the planet -- 24.7 percent -- lived in Europe. Today, the European population share is a little more than 10 percent. By 2025 -- with the average woman in the European Union bearing just 1.48 children in her lifetime -- the ratio of Europeans to everyone else is projected to be less than one in 14 -- 7 percent.
The dearth of babies, coupled with longer life spans for today's elderly, "have major implications for our prosperity, living standards and relations between the generations," according to a "green paper" on demographic change issued by the European Commission...
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...men and 26 percent of men between 20 and 39 do not want to have children, up from 10 percent for women and 12 percent for men just a decade ago.
Reviewing the findings, the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle concluded, "The natural and somewhat obscure longing to have a child has little to do with state subsidies and labor market structures."
Copyright © 2005 The Washington Times, LLC.
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Publication Details
(The World & I Online) |
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The World & I Online is a
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articles by scholars and experts in the areas of Global Studies,
Liberal Arts, Fine & Applied Arts, General Science, and Spanish.
Originally published monthly in print as The World & I, our site
includes the complete contents since 1986 and continues to publish
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