Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Why the Baby Bust?


Al Mohler comments today on the slow decline in population that is steadily taking place in Europe. To maintain population growth you have to have a fertility rate of at least 2.1. In Europe, the average rate is 1.38. You can imagine what kind of consequences this will have for the future of Europe.

But why is this the case? Mohler points to the writing of Noah Pollack in Azure for a diagnosis of the problem. Pollack writes:
The explanation for Europe's turn from reproducing its civilization is, in fact, as simple and self-contained as how children themselves are viewed. People avoid having children not because they are irreligious, lack financial means, fear the possibility of divorce, or carry university degrees. Rather, people do not have children because they do not want them: They find the curtailment of personal freedom and the assumption of the decades-long obligation inherent in parenthood unattractive, and they do not want to accept the basic restructuring of life that having a family requires. This is not a product of objective economic or social factors; rather, it is a subjective judgment about the meaning and purpose of one's life and the civilization in which that life is lived. It is, ultimately, a moral answer to a moral question: The question of the value people ascribe to their own families and their own heritage, in a broader cultural context.
Read Mohler's whole post here. Fascinating stuff.

2 comments:

Rachel Bardwell said...

You know, I say if a couple knows they don't want the level of responsibility that it takes to be a parent, then good for them. Better to realize that before you have kids, than after.

Scott Sterner said...

I definitely respect where Rachel is coming from on this one, esp as one who works with kids in bad situations, however, an even better alternative to bad parents not having kids would be bad parents becoming good parents and having kids. Obviously I am being overly simplistic, but I think you get my point.