> But progressively fewer and fewer
[have children, then Yoshie cited falling fertility rates in advanced countries].
snipping here and there.
> * In 2000, 44 percent of the world's population lived in countries
> with fertility rates at or below replacement level. . . .
>
> <http://www.prcdc.org/summaries/worldpop/worldpop.html>
> <blockquote>Women in Italy enjoy a very high status compared with
> women in developing nations. Literacy for men and women is almost the
> same (98% of males and 96% for women). In Italy, for the first time
> in world history, women have surpassed men in the field of education:
> more women between ages 20-25 pursue a degree (secondary or higher)
> than men. Additionally, there are more women in the workforce than
> men.
> 1. Longman, Phillip,J., The World Turns Gray, U.S. News and World
> Report, March 1, 1999
> 2. Specter, Michael, Population Implosion Worries a Graying Europe,
> The New York Times, July 10, 1998
> 3. The Audubon Society
> <http://www.pbs.org/sixbillion/italy/it-status.html></blockquote>
>
> As soon as women get educated, they stop having children.
Typically "falling fertility rates" is used to argue for Social Security "reform" (that is, privatization). So I tried to check into it some years back.
>From memory: There is a falling fertility rate, especially in advanced
countries like
the US and Western Europe. Is that due to the population aging, or is
the aging
population due to a falling fertility rate?
I asked somebody (sorry I lost the reference) at Berkeley's Demographics group. My respondent happened to be an economist who immediately replied the latter. Then he checked with the demographers and emailed me a correction. It is the aging of the population that causes a declining fertility rate.
I hope I got that right.
In other words, assuming I'm not misremembering, we're not having less children, we are having more older people due to improved quality of life.
The decline in fertility rates is a function of more older people in the population, that is not compensated by immigration.
John