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The primary cause of population growth today is not birth rate, but rather death rate - people benefiting from modern society are living 10-20 years longer (or
by beat 7y ago
The primary cause of population growth today is not birth rate, but rather death rate - people benefiting from modern society are living 10-20 years longer (or more) than their ancestors did just a generation or three earlier. The birth rate is at or near (or below) replacement in the vast majority of countries, and rapidly heading that direction in most of the rest.
If you really want population control, you don't need eugenics - you need Logan's Run.
- JoeAltmaier 7y agoDeath rate stabilizes once good infant care and lifetime medicine are introduced. Folks live around 74 years, worldwide. So its contributing a constant factor by now, most places.
- beat 7y agoIt takes multiple generations for this to cause an impact. What matters isn't the people living longer who are born today - it's the ones living longer who were born in the 1950s-1970s. And it's taken additional decades for most of the poorer countries to catch up to the "first world", in terms of birth rates and lifespans. Consider, say, Iran. In 1980, its birthrate was around 6. Now, it's 1.4, lower than Europe, and lifespans shot up at the same time - but only for those born during the health revolution there. So those people are still less than 40 years old. Iran is just now starting to feel the impact of increased lifespans, and it'll take another 50 years for that to truly stabilize.
- empath75 7y agoIt’s not actually lifespan that matters but the percentage of people surviving to adulthood and having children. That’s a much much much higher number now.