[ExI] To Arms!

[BillK]

On 4/3/09, Stefano Vaj wrote:
> In the seventies, European countries with very high level of taxation,
> namely social democratic Scandinavia, used to have the lowest demographic
> pressure, even in comparison with much poorer areas, such as southern Italy
> or Greece, but this was usually attributed to cultural reasons.
>
> OTOH, apparently the trend was substantially reversed around the end of the
> last century, to the point that girls in their early twenties were around
> with babies in a cart and a couple of further children by hand. This may or
> may not have corresponded to some political or tax changes in that time. But
> it is also true that substantial pro-birth welfare policies were enacted...
>


It is generally true of all first world countries that they have birth
rates below replacement level. This seems to follow the empowerment of
women, who choose to have careers rather than have children.  You can
see the effect happening in second and third world countries
statistics as they develop.

The latest stats are here:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2127rank.html

Norway, Denmark and Sweden are still below the replacement level of 2.1.
Namely, 1.78, 1.74, 1.67.

Note that these are overall statistics. The USA has a higher figure
(than Europe) of 2.05. But hidden inside this figure is young
immigrant families having more children than the older US residents.
There are very many Hispanics in the US southern states.

This same distortion is hidden within European figures. The UK has a
birth rate of 1.66. But the young immigrant families are increasing at
a faster rate than the original residents.

This characteristic of immigrant families having larger families is
expected to reduce within a few generations as they become more
adjusted to their new country, adopt a similar lifestyle and their
female children start to expect the same rights as other women in the
country.


BillK