"Our goal should be a planet with fewer humans"(WAPO)washingtonpost
How many people are there in the world? World population has reached 8 billion on November 15, 2022 according to the United Nations
Doomsday clock
Fewer cars driving lowers Co2 emissions:
Dec 11, 2020 — Carbon dioxide emissions from oil, gas and coal this year are predicted to reach approximately 34 billion tons, a 7 percent drop
Worrying' Population Declines Are Actually A Hopeful Sign"| Opinion newsweek
"The fertility crisis is here"
Editorial
"A Lancet study predicts that by 2100, 97% of countries will have fertility rates below what is needed to sustain their population"
Instead of putting the fate of the entire economic system on the shoulders of women, we should untangle our economy’s success from the birthrate. Endless growth — whether that’s of the population or the economy — is an unachievable fantasy. Infinite growth on a finite planet is doomed to fail.
The Post’s
editorial on birthrates is just the latest in an unending — and unnecessary — series of alarms sounded on this subject in recent years. Outside of briefly acknowledging the many upsides of declining fertility rates, the editorial assumes as given the dire consequences should we fail to convince women to reverse them.
In fact, this is no time to double down on an ideology that exalts economic growth above all else. If the goal is human well-being and not the enrichment of those already favored by an economy that has produced record wealth inequality along with dire ecological calamity, then now is the time to reject growthist ideology for good.
A strong social safety net should be standard in rich countries such as the United States — and would add far less to the national debt than the billions we send into the bottomless pit of military conflict. But we should have such policies as a matter of decency, not as an attempt to increase birthrates.
The only sensible policy toward low birthrates is to adapt to them. We are still adding about 80 million people per year to the global population, chiefly because women in some parts of the world lack reproductive choice and face powerful cultural pronatalist pressures. These parts of the world will suffer the most from climate-induced drought, heat waves and other extreme weather events. Our low birthrates should be seen as an opportunity to welcome coming waves of climate refugees. If we embrace those new arrivals, and divert gross military overexpenditure to creating a humane, supportive society for all, we will do far more to care for our aging society than bribing women to have babies they don’t want.
Kirsten Stade, Silver Spring
The writer is communications manager for Population Balance.
Microplastic pollution has been found in all human semen samples tested in a study, and researchers say further research on the potential harm to reproduction is “imperative”
Global birthrates are declining: women on average had 4.7 children each in 1950; by 2100 this is projected to fall to 1.7. This trend is particularly pronounced in wealthier nations: 23 countries, including Japan, Spain and South Korea, are forecast to see their populations halve by 2100
guardian.com
Fertility rates in Western states have been declining more severely than other parts of the United States in recent years. In 2020, 43 states had their lowest general fertility rate in at least 30 years, and every state except North Dakota saw a decline compared to the decade ending in 2010. Arizona and Utah's rates were more than double the national average
Google
Photo by Jung Yeon-je / AFP) (Photo by JUNG YEON-JE/AFP via Getty Images) dk images library
"There will be some upsides to the reduction in population size. Less environmental damage and lower carbon emissions"
Higher pay resulting from scarce labour supply. Reduced expenditure on schools; already data suggest primary and secondary schools are seeing fewer pupils apply for spaces that were once coveted. Economic historians believe that the population decline in Medieval Britain raised wages, increased labour mobility and led to productivity increases and economic growth. www.spectator.co.uk/...
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Overpopulation Map Compares Birth Rates Across US in 2023 A new map shows the breakdown of babies born in all 50 states last year as the U.S. reaches a *historically low rate of births.* Fewer babies—around 3.6 million—were born to parents in the U.S. in 2023 than in any year since 1979. The total fertility rate fell to 1.62 births per woman in 2023, a 2 percent decline from 2022's 3.66 million, according to data released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in April https://www.newsweek.com/map-compares-us-birth-rates-2023-1901002
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Americans are not unduly concerned about falling birthrates in the U.S. a new opinion poll conducted exclusively for Newsweek has found.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the general fertility rate has reached a historic low after decreasing almost every year since 2014. Fewer than 3.6 million babies were born in the U.S. in 2023, the lowest annual tally since 1979.
In Italy, the total fertility rate (TFR), the average number of children born to a woman in her lifetime, is now 1.24, far below the 2.1 required to sustain population growth. Other European nations are faring worse: in Malta, it’s barely over 1; in Spain, just 1.19. In the UK, meanwhile, the TFR decreased to 1.49 children per woman in 2022 from 1.55 in 2021.
According to a new study in the Lancet, this trend will get much worse, on a global scale, and fast. The world population, researchers suggest, will fall, within decades, for the first time since the Black Death. By 2100, it is projected that just six countries out of 204 will have birth rates higher than the replacement level.
. In Italy, the total fertility rate (TFR), the average number of children born to a woman in her lifetime, is now 1.24, far below the 2.1 required to sustain population growth. Other European nations are faring worse: in Malta, it’s barely over 1; in Spain, just 1.19. In the UK, meanwhile, the TFR decreased to 1.49 children per woman in 2022 from 1.55 in 2021. According to a new study in the Lancet, this trend will get much worse, on a global scale, and fast. The world population, researchers suggest, will fall, within decades, for the first time since the Black Death. By 2100, it is projected that just six countries out of 204 will have birth rates higher than the replacement level. There are fears that population decline in the 21st century will be catastrophic. Elon Musk, who had 11 children at the last count, has described it as ‘a much bigger risk to civilisation than global warming’.
Many economists worry that the declining worker to pensioner ratio in Britain will result in stagnating living standards and economic decay. That the welfare system and NHS will buckle, taxes will soar, and asset prices will tumble.
South Korea, where the fertility rate plunged to 0.7 in the third quarter of 2023, has spent more than 360 trillion won (£213 billion) in areas such as childcare subsidies since 2006. The Japanese government has offered lump sum payments to women who have babies, provided generous parental leave, and covered the cost of fertility treatments – yet deaths were double the number of births in 2023. Hungary, meanwhile, spends 5 per cent of GDP on pro-birth measures, but its TFR is still only 1.5.
Men with higher concentrations of phthalates in their urine (a measure of exposure) have lower sperm counts and poorer sperm motility than men with less of these substances.Mar 1, 2023
https://www.scientificamerican.com › ...
NORTH KOREA
North Korea fertility rate plummets to estimated 1.38, South Korean officials claim
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The fertility crisis is here
amp.cnn.com/...
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The trend line of these statistics implies that human sperm will approaching zero by roughly 2045. Also, make no mistake: female fertility is being affected too. Girls are experiencing earlier puberty and women's eggs are losing viability at younger ages, Swan says.Nov 15, 2022
https://www.haaretz.com › .premium
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Super-aged Japan now has 9 million vacant homes.
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On population decline: BBC Birth rates are falling in two thirds of the world How should countries deal with falling birth rates? "It is part of the demographic transition. We knew this was going to happen, and happen across the 21st Century. So, it is not unexpected, and we should have been preparing for this for some time.” However, the scale of the future problem is immense. For a country in the developed world to increase or maintain its population it needs a birth rate of 2.1 children per woman on average. This is known as the “replacement rate” .https://www.bbc.com/... . Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation https://www.healthdata.org › lance... The Lancet: Dramatic declines in global fertility rates set to transform ... Mar 20, 2024 — By 2050, over three-quarters of countries will not have high enough fertility rates to sustain population size over time... https://www.healthdata.org/...
The Global Decline in Fertility Rates
Fertility rates are declining in most places. According to the UN, in 1990, the average number of births per woman globally was 3.2. By 2019, this had fallen to 2.5 births per woman; by 2050, it is expected to decline further to 2.2 births.
Notably, a fertility level of 2.1 births per woman is necessary to avoid a national population decline over the long run (not including net immigration).
China’s birth rate has fallen the fastest in recent years among the countries highlighted here. The country registered 7.6 annual births per 1,000 people in 2021, compared to 24.4 in 1990 and 41.0 in 1950.
www.visualcapitalist.com/...
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According to a recent meta-analysis, the average total sperm count in men declined by 59.3% between 1973 and 2011. While these data certainly have limitations — including the exclusion of non-English publications, the reliance on total sperm count and not sperm motility, and the potential bias of those patients willing to give a semen sample —the overall trend nevertheless seems to be clearly downward. What's more concerning, if you believe the data presented, is that there does not appear to be a leveling off of the downward curve in total sperm count.
Think about that last statement. At the current rate of decline, the average sperm count will be zero in 2045. One of the lead authors on the meta-analysis, Hagai Levine, MD, MPH, goes so far as to state, "We should hope for the best and prepare for the worst."
Reduction in population = lower fossil fuel use, and lowered environmental footprints
Lowered co2 :
How much did CO2 emissions drop during lockdown?
A study published in Nature Climate Change estimated a reduction of 17% in daily emissions in early April 2020 (Figure 1). Greenhouse gas emissions had a reduction of 17 percent from a year earlier on April 7.Jun 13, 2023
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov › pmc
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"There will be some upsides to the reduction in population size. Less environmental damage and lower carbon emissions"
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