While it is often argued that high fertility rates among the poor are to blame for their poverty, this assertion does not seem to hold true when examined fully.
A recent article in the Wall Street Journal by Greg Ip explains how lengthening life spans and declining fertility negatively affect the world’s economy. View it here.
The article also trumps the myth of overpopulation:
” In 1798 Thomas Malthus, a British essayist, argued that humanity would reproduce faster than food production could rise, leading to destitution and starvation. He was wrong. The Western world’s population grew rapidly over the 19th and 20th centuries, with a dip in 1918-19 because of World War I and the Spanish flu pandemic. But rising agricultural productivity proved more than capable of feeding the extra mouths.”
The negative effects of declining fertility races are also exposed at length in the article, such as the low number of working-age individuals as compared to the number of elderly persons. This places a burden on the few working adults who will fund services such as Social Security for a larger number of retirees.
While the article paints a dire picture, it seems clear that although it may take a long time to turn the tide of declining fertility rates, it is possible to return it to a healthy, growth-inducing rates. Economists point to social attitudes that promote higher fertility rates and immigration as necessary for developed nations in order to increase the number of its young people and to refresh the workforce.
While the catechism recognizes that couples should be prudent in discerning the number of children they are able to welcome, it makes it clear that openness to life is an essential mark of every marital act. It turns out that this “suggestion” is not only spiritually necessary but also beneficial to the economy at large in light of declining fertility rates in the developed world.
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