'75% of the world is below replacement fertility' | Nicholas Eberstadt

Nicholas Eberstadt warns of the coming population time-bomb, where most of the world is below replacement fertility rate and family duties are increasingly outsourced to the state.

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Conversations feature John Anderson, former Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, interviewing the world's foremost thought leaders about today's pressing social, cultural and political issues.

John believes proper, robust dialogue is necessary if we are to maintain our social strength and cohesion. As he puts it; "You cannot get good public policy out of a bad public debate."

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[trojanthedog]

Recently, maybe 6 mths ago, I saw a Chinese lock down official (police goon) threaten a woman with, ' your resistance will see your family punished for 3 generations!', to which she answered, 'We are the last generation!'.

[mnkwazi]

Not enough talk here about how the ultra rich have decided that the basics for the masses should be out of reach. Everything from healthy food, decent accommodations(rent & home ownership), daycare, health insurance, college education keeps increasing. However wages don't.

[thevagrant]

Im a 40 year old man. Never married and never planning on having children.why? If i can barely support myself, what would happen if i need to support a wife AND child?

[WildHorses]

My oh my! What will the elite do without there maids, drivers, dog walkers, factory slaves?

[SCFLEUR]

It has been made too expensive to have a family. People are no longer walking blindly into the sun by just having children with no means to support them.

[freddix]

Why would you bring a child into the world when you know that all they will be are slaves to make money for someone else .

[BB-cfgx]

I tell people about this and they cannot bring themselves to even consider the idea.

[schurlbirkenbach]

A population decline is only a problem for real estate investors and companies which look for cheap employees.

[jeromebarry]

I've never been able to get worried about population changing. I was aware and unconcerned for the first 50 years of population growth, and now with population decline I'm just not worried about it. We'll adjust.

[mitrahispana]

What’s bad isn’t the lower population, but for the remaining population to be so very old!

[barryscott]

And yet... what does it actually matter...
Europe went through dramatic growth and contraction both, over that last 1000 years.
in fact, right up to the 20 century, populations were small by our standards.
And yet the scientific and technical revolution happened anyway.
The world will survive just fine with contracted populations.
And the wheel will turn, and the forces that are currently driving smaller families and lower fertility and procreation will fade in due course.
Of all the "problems" we have to face... this is the biggest non-problem there is.

[sa]

Love your programs ~ always interesting, always excellent guests, always good topics ~

[chriswatson]

A child is two dependents: the child itself and the adult who must supervise it. Looking after an aging population is just a case of looking after the elderly instead of babies and their mothers.

[unclefatbloke]

Western countries developed systems and processes based on permanent population increases. Especially regarding State Pension schemes.
But the percentage of workers to retirees has been falling for a few decades now, and will inevitably collapse. So immigration has been their target, but have NOT admitted this to their electorates!
But even that is a limited and short-term solution, because there is ZERO possibility that the public will allow the level of immigration needed, at the expense of national, cultural and social values! Never!
So I would invest my money into Robotics companies, because that is the only way production levels can be maintained or increased in the future!
However, everyone can kiss goodbye to a state pension!

[realtalk]

Thank you for discussing this publicly and for educating us with the truth.

[niceviewoverthere]

All very consistent with my experiences. I fathered three children (my wife did most of the work) but my brother and sister had none. All three kids are now in their 30s and have effectively replaced their grandparents and will replace us two. But out of my 3 kids, only one has a child. The others are too busy funding mortgages. The financial side in Oz needs looking at. Talk about eggshells! Now I'm going to hide...

[Scylithen]

_All part of the plan_
_Trust the plan, they want this to happen_

[twowongs]

Thank you for putting the spotlight on this issue which is ignored by MSN and perpetrated by the eugenicists' seeking to carve up this world without firing a shot.

[shedactivist]

The problem when you build a vast complex machine and then keep adding to it is that you need an army of people to maintain and sustain it. The massive and sudden shrinkage in population means that the infrastructure and institutions will collapse. The move towards ever bigger government and socialism means that the inevitable end will come sooner rather than later.

[bobsontheepic]

Universe 25 comes to mind when I hear about population decline.