birthrates plunge. world population growth which has averaged nearly 2% per year for decades is now about 1%. in 83 countries comprising nearly half the global population, women are averaging less than two children, which means that couples are not replacing themselves. even in a poor country like india, the fertility rate has plummeted. couples had more than six children on average in 1960, now the average is less than three. the real problem the rich world faces acutely ais a population implosion. only the countries that adapt early to the population implosion will thrive in the baby bust era. he predicts countries will only be able to thrive economically if they become friendly to immigrants or convince their people to have more babies, which is of course much harder.
the policies behind them turned out to be wrong. in 1968 a stanford biology wrote a book titled the population bomb. he warned we did not have the resources for the number of people on the planet. today the earth s population is twice what it was in 1968. we have innovative ways not just to survive but prosper. however, the idea persists that our big problem is too many people. as we recently noted in the wall street journal the united nations says we will add over two billion people to the world s population in the next 35 years implying an unmanageable strain on our resources. the problem might be the reverse. as countries develop their birthrates plunge.