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India defuses its population bomb: fertility falls to two children per woman

science.org

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Re: India defuses its population bomb: fertility falls to two children per woman

#11

Post by wavefunction »

raxxorrax wrote: post #4
wavefunction wrote: post #3

My "modest proposal" for humane population reduction is: every individual is born with the right to have one child. A couple then, can have two children, which is below the natural replacement rate of 2.1 leading to a gradual reduction in human population naturally. People who don't want to have kids or can't for whatever reason could sell their right to others who want to have more than their normal allotment while…

Does not work. Education and access to medicine does.

Well I agree that those work as well. I am afraid your post is too pithy about "does not work" to credit that bit though.

Re: India defuses its population bomb: fertility falls to two children per woman

#12

Post by dotnet00 »

netizen-936824 wrote: post #5
Callmenorm wrote: post #2

Isn't this going to create another problem. Where the country gets old before it gets rich?

Why is the goal to get rich? That seems lame and shortsighted

If the country does not get richer faster than it gets older, the increasingly older population will suffer, having to work till they're older and getting less financial support (healthcare, pensions etc) because there would be proportionally fewer healthy young people to pay in to the system.

Re: India defuses its population bomb: fertility falls to two children per woman

#13

Post by omk »

wavefunction wrote: post #3

My "modest proposal" for humane population reduction is: every individual is born with the right to have one child. A couple then, can have two children, which is below the natural replacement rate of 2.1 leading to a gradual reduction in human population naturally. People who don't want to have kids or can't for whatever reason could sell their right to others who want to have more than their normal allotment while…

You lost me at "selling their right". It is important to understand that "selling" and "right" should not appear in the same sentence when the said right is being addressed as a basic right. It opens room for abuse even in well administered jurisdictions.

Re: India defuses its population bomb: fertility falls to two children per woman

#16

Post by Ericson2314 »

Callmenorm wrote: post #2

Isn't this going to create another problem. Where the country gets old before it gets rich?

I am very suspicious of that supposed relationship. There are tons of productivity gains to be had, and nothing like a tightening labor market to force them.

Re: India defuses its population bomb: fertility falls to two children per woman

#17

Post by tedivm »

wavefunction wrote: post #3

My "modest proposal" for humane population reduction is: every individual is born with the right to have one child. A couple then, can have two children, which is below the natural replacement rate of 2.1 leading to a gradual reduction in human population naturally. People who don't want to have kids or can't for whatever reason could sell their right to others who want to have more than their normal allotment while…

I hope by "modest proposal" you mean "satirical take meant to show how awful people are being", which is the whole point of the original modest proposal.

The big issue isn't the number of people, but the amount of energy and resources they require. The carbon emissions per 1000 people in India is 0.922 metric tons a year. For the United States that number is 19.86 metric tons a year. That's a difference of over 21 times. To put it another way, preventing a single US birth is the equivalent of preventing 21 births in India.

Focusing on the raw population is, and always has been, a distraction that high consuming countries use to ignore their own role in our current environment. This isn't to say that populations should rise forever, but it's pretty common for countries that reach higher levels of developments to have their population growth level off. Reducing poverty is by far the best and most ethical way to combat booming population growth.

Re: India defuses its population bomb: fertility falls to two children per woman

#18

Post by klyrs »

wavefunction wrote: post #3

My "modest proposal" for humane population reduction is: every individual is born with the right to have one child. A couple then, can have two children, which is below the natural replacement rate of 2.1 leading to a gradual reduction in human population naturally. People who don't want to have kids or can't for whatever reason could sell their right to others who want to have more than their normal allotment while…

What's your proposal for handling births that exceed allotment?

Re: India defuses its population bomb: fertility falls to two children per woman

#19

Post by Swenrekcah »

nine_zeros wrote: post #8
Callmenorm wrote: post #2

Isn't this going to create another problem. Where the country gets old before it gets rich?

There is A LOT of slack in a population of that size. Most women don't even work yet. Even if population declines, the labor force will continue to rise for a long time.

Yeah I’m fairly sure they work their asses off already. Maybe not that gets measured in GDP thought.

Re: India defuses its population bomb: fertility falls to two children per woman

#20

Post by coding123 »

dotnet00 wrote: post #12
netizen-936824 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is the goal to get rich? That seems lame and shortsighted

If the country does not get richer faster than it gets older, the increasingly older population will suffer, having to work till they're older and getting less financial support (healthcare, pensions etc) because there would be proportionally fewer healthy young people to pay in to the system.

Nah - that's more of a system of control. You can definitely have a poor country where people are not slaves to mortgages. It's called building your own house. Many countries allow that.
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