Lower Fertility Rate is Improving the World in Incredible Ways

Published November 05, 2009 @ 06:59PM PT

Climate change, hunger and malnutrition, women's rights, war and conflict are all causes in which the situation is likely to dramatically improve should global fertility rates continue to decrease. Soon a milestone will be reached as "only half of humanity will be having only enough children to replace itself," writes the Economist. We aren't going to disappear as a race, oh no, but population growth is likely to slow and with it more people will enjoy a higher standard of living at no-one's expense. More pairs of hands won't be needed to improve your family's chances of survival, and the incentives to having a large family will decrease.

Incentives will change as more people live in urban areas, close to schools, markets, and factories. Women will work more, and education will increasingly need be funded — both will lead to smaller families. Family planning improves things further.

This won't happen for at least another generation, not quick enough for us to disregard changing how much we are destroying and polluting the planet. But creating a lower population helps: it's five times cheaper than conventional solutions to combating climate change. Quite simply fewer feet mean a smaller footprint. A smaller population won't weigh so heavily on Earth, especially for those least able to shoulder the burden.

Photo credit: UN Photo/John Isaac

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