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There is actually a consistent inverse correlation between development level and fertility rate. Economically affluent countries have lower fertility. This sug
by serhei 18y ago
There is actually a consistent inverse correlation between development level and fertility rate. Economically affluent countries have lower fertility.
This suggests that improving the standard of living is the most, perhaps the only, humane way of dealing with the population problem. Other measures, even measures like China's "One Child Policy", tend to have unanticipated repercussions. (Example: everybody in China wants a boy, to such a degree that some families end up abandoning newborn girls out on a street somewhere, if not resorting to downright infanticide.)
So the argument that raising Africa's standard of living will worsen the population explosion doesn't really hold water; the exact opposite argument can also be made.
- asdflkj 18y agoFood and medicine programs are making the standard of living higher in the short term and lower in the long term. That was exactly my point: if you want to feel good, then short term is important. If you want to solve real problems, like unsustainable birthrates, then long term is important. We don't actually disagree. If we had enough money to bootstrap the whole (or part) of Africa into a decent way of life, it would be one thing. But we don't. And half-measures are worse than nothing. If you don't have enough strength to lift an injured person over a fence, picking him up and dropping him back down won't do any good. But, it'll look like you're trying if you squint hard enough.