Population, Birth Rate, and Fertility Rate

In 1946, annual births exceeded 2% of the total population. During 1946 – 1964, the population grew rapidly resulting in 450 million being born worldwide with 77.3 million born only within the United States. This time is known as the baby boom. Benjamin Franklin proclaimed in 1751, that the population would double in size every 20 years. We know this is true as the population in 1969 was 3.7 billion and today in 2019 the population is 7.3 billion. With the baby boom, there was an increase in homes being built, more job opportunities, and an increase in resources. However, in 1968, Paul Ehrlich published a book titled The Population Bomb making people believe that population growth was not a good idea but would impact them negatively. Ehrlich predicted in his book that overpopulation would result in mass starvation, increase in pollution, and there would be a decline of resources such as fossil fuel. Nevertheless, today Ehrlich’s predictions have been proven incorrect as overeating has become more of a problem than starvation, there is a decrease of pollution, and we are having greater access to our resources like fossil fuels. Ehrlich believed with overpopulation, couples who decide to have a big family are robbers of society as they are not giving other couples and their descendant’s resources. Because of the book, people focused on the population growth and overlooked the fact that the fertility rate was declining. Why is fertility rate declining?

The fertility rate is the average number of children born over the lifetime of the average woman. Today, over 90 territories and countries have sub-replacement fertility rates. There are a few factors as to why fertility rate is dropping such as having greater access to contraception and abortion, an increase of woman with careers and in education, and people delaying marriage and having children.  Now with the baby boomers growing older and retiring, the ratio of retirees to workers is 1 to 13. With this imbalance, fewer homes, jobs, and resources will be provided.  

Today we see through social media, the news, movies and TV shows of what would happen to the world with overpopulation. I don’t know about you but I believe what I hear and see. I remember when I was 12 years old, my parents decided they wanted to adopt more children and increase our family size. I was opposed to the idea of having more children as my parents already had six at the time. However much I complained and shared my concern of how more children would result in the six of us not having our needs taken care of, my parents made their decision to adopt more children and today there are 12 of us, including myself. While I was opposed to the idea at the beginning, I came to love all of my siblings. Having many siblings helped me gain valuable skills such as patience and charity. I learned from my brothers how to be strong and from my sisters how to be aware of others emotions. Sharing a room with my siblings also prepared me for college and now my marriage. The family truly is the fundamental unit of society. It does not matter if one has 2 or 12 children, if the family is blended, broken, or divorced. What is important is that we cherish, protect and strengthen our family because family is the closest people to us and surrounding our lives with people who matter will fulfill our lives.