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More people in Europe are dying than are being born, according to a new report co-authored by a Texas A&M University demographer. In contrast, births exceed deaths, by significant margins, in Texas and elsewhere in the U.S., with few exceptions.
Texas A&M Professor of Sociology Dudley Poston, along with Professor Kenneth Johnson, University of New Hampshire, and Professor Layton Field, Mount St. Mary's University, published their findings in Population and Development Review this month.
The researchers find that 17 European nations have more people dying in them than are being born (natural decrease), including three of Europe's more populous nations: Russia, Germany and Italy. In contrast, in the U.S. and in the state of Texas, births exceed deaths by a substantial margin.
http://phys.org/news/2016-01-people-europe-dying-born.html
[Abstract]: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1728-4457.2015.00089.x/abstract (DOI: 10.1111/j.1728-4457.2015.00089.x)
[Source]: Is Europe Dying
(Score: 3, Insightful) by NotSanguine on Saturday January 16 2016, @07:02AM
This may well be true. However, almost half the world's population live in areas with sub-replacement fertility rates, including the U.S. [wikipedia.org] Which should give the anti-immigrant morons some pause.
From the link:
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 3, Insightful) by frojack on Saturday January 16 2016, @07:21AM
Weren't you one of the guys posting around here about needing half the population to just go away in order to save the planet?
The way toward falling birth rates is raising the living standard. Where ever the standard of living and quality of life rises, people start naturally reducing the number of children they care to rear.
Moving masses of people really isn't a solution to an over population problem.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Saturday January 16 2016, @07:37AM
Weren't you one of the guys posting around here about needing half the population to just go away in order to save the planet?
Nope. That wasn't me. Nor do think that's the case.
The way toward falling birth rates is raising the living standard. Where ever the standard of living and quality of life rises, people start naturally reducing the number of children they care to rear.
You're absolutely correct. And if you look at the map on the wikipedia page I linked, it's pretty obvious that the large majority of the countries with "sub-replacement" fertility rates are the developed/rich countries.
Moving masses of people really isn't a solution to an over population problem.
I never said that it was. However, over the long term, those same countries will either need immigration or their populations will dwindle. Evening out the distribution of population a bit isn't a bad idea, IMHO.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 2) by bootsy on Monday January 18 2016, @11:42AM
According to the UN the only correlation they could find with decreasing birth rates is higher levels of female literacy.
Girls who can read are far less likley to put up with producing unwanted children and more likely to plan for children they might actually want.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 16 2016, @07:52AM
The elderly Japanese will be cared for mostly by robots that speak Japanese.
The elderly Germans will be, uh, "taken care of" by people who call them "kafir" in a non-German language.
I have to say the Japanese are being the smarter ones. That said, fixing the economic disincentives for large families would be an even smarter move.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 16 2016, @09:19AM
...and rape their daughters..
...and force their daughters to cover themselves so as not to incite being raped..
...and change the laws to enshrine Islam..
...and make other religions illegal then tax other religions..
...and so on
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 16 2016, @07:42PM
Indeed! Just as when the Muslims conquered Spain.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/history/spain_1.shtml [bbc.co.uk]
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/24/spain-sephardic-jews-islam-muslim [theguardian.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 19 2016, @01:38AM
I'm not entirely sure what point you were trying to make with you links, but there are some bits I'll highlight.
From your first link:
A Golden Age of religious tolerance?
Islamic Spain is sometimes described as a 'golden age' of religious and ethnic tolerance and interfaith harmony between Muslims, Christians and Jews.
Some historians believe this idea of a golden age is false and might lead modern readers to believe, wrongly, that Muslim Spain was tolerant by the standards of 21st century Britain.
The true position is more complicated. The distinguished historian Bernard Lewis wrote that the status of non-Muslims in Islamic Spain was a sort of second-class citizenship but he went on to say:
Second-class citizenship, though second class, is a kind of citizenship. It involves some rights, though not all, and is surely better than no rights at all...
...A recognized status, albeit one of inferiority to the dominant group, which is established by law, recognized by tradition, and confirmed by popular assent, is not to be despised.
Bernard Lewis, The Jews of Islam, 1984
Oh, and don't forget this bit either:
In Islamic Spain, Jews and Christians were tolerated if they:
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 16 2016, @09:22AM
Japan took 11 illegal border violating immigrants last year. Even if every single one has a wife and 7 child who they demand to be reconcilled with then this policy of disincentive for large families is working.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 16 2016, @10:10AM
> The elderly Japanese will be cared for mostly by robots that speak Japanese.
(1) It isn't just about "care" of the elderly - the economy is a 1000x larger than caregivers in the home
(2) How many decades of failed promises about robots, AI and future tech in general does it take to convince you not to count your chickens until they are hatched?
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 16 2016, @10:16AM
We need fewer people, so this is actually a good thing. We don't need to "fix" any economic disincentives for large families; certainly not right now.