Fewer.(Book Review)

• Author: Muehlenberg, Bill
• Position: 134672600
• Pages: 70(3)

FEWER by Ben Wattenberg Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2004, 256pages

World depopulation has become the most important, and alarming, new demographic trend to emerge in the past few decades. While the world has experienced low fertility rates before, they have been due to great social disruptions such as war, famine, depression or plague. But the rates always went up afterwards.

Things are different now. The global downward trend in fertility is both long-term and pronounced. The numbers are alarming. There are now 63 nations with below-replacement fertility. The replacement level is a Total Fertility Rate of 2.1 children per women. Yet everywhere T.F.R.s are plummeting. Today all 44 modern nations, with the exception of Albania, are below the 2.1 replacement level. America is just on that level.

Consider this incredible statistic: European T.F.R. has fallen for fifty consecutive years. Many European nations have a T.F.R. of 1.2, such as Italy, Greece, and Austria. Spain's level is down to 1.1. The United Nations estimates that Europe's population of 728 million people today will shrink to 632 million within 50 years.

The trend in the developing world is even more staggering. In 35 years the T.F.R...