We Need More Babies

Underpopulation, not overpopulation, is the bigger problem. We need to take steps to encourage more births.

When I was born near the Baby Boom’s peak, many people worried that the population was growing too fast. Today, the shoe is on the other foot. All over the world, birth rates have collapsed, and we face the prospect of a shrinking population. Over two-thirds of the world’s population lives in countries with birth rates below replacement, including India, China, the U.S., Brazil, and all of Europe. The United Nations projects that the global population will peak near the end of the century, but many demographers now expect that to occur much sooner — perhaps as early as 2050.