Fertility rates are falling across the globe – even in places, such as sub-Saharan Africa, where they remain high. The replacement level is around 2.1 births per woman. South Korea is at 0.8 births per woman, or China at an estimated 1.3, England and Wales (1.6), the European Union (1.5) and the US (1.6).
France’s valiant efforts to encourage large families with financial incentives haven’t made much difference either, compared with the rest of Europe. As child mortality drops, and women’s health and education improve, fertility falls. Parents choose to invest more time, money and love in fewer children. You can sway their decisions slightly by making life harder or easier for families – through childcare provision, say, or parental leave allowances – but the demographic transition is unstoppable.
Immigration – which tends to bring in young adults – is a critical component of that adaptation, smoothing the demographic transition for richer countries while redistributing capital to poorer ones where fertility rates remain relatively high. The evidence is overwhelming that, in general, immigration is good for societies – economically, but also socially. Closing doors to it is, in this sense, self-destructive.
Why declining birth rates are good news for life on Earth | Laura Spinney | The Guardian
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