Remember ZPG, “zero population growth,” that was supposed to supplant “be fruitful and multiply” as the new value system of the late 20th century? Well, they’re singing a different tune in Europe now. It turns out that the rush to reduce births has had the effect of reducing the economy — radically so. Countries with reduced fertility rates do not produce enough young people to sustain the retirement benefits of the older people, or to produce sufficient goods to sustain a viable import-export ratio.
In fact, so critical has the fertility rate become as an index of economic health that it is measured with the same precision and focus as other leading economic indicators. We learn in the Economist that, for example, Spain’s fertility rate fell from 1.46 in 2008 to 1.38 in 2011 — just one instance of the gain in the fertility rate over the past 10 years being wiped out in the last three alone. A devastating development. Cause for long-term worry. The stuff of economic textbook charts.
“Demography is destiny,” said a 19th-century French scientist, and population trends are now a matter of acute attention by experts of all kinds. We have here a classic case of what happens when pop science and moral relativity replace the first and most basic Biblical teaching of all: “Be fruitful and multiply.” Be positive. Embrace life.
Copyright © 2012 by the Intermountain Jewish News
