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As Shannon noted a few days ago, the upcoming Chinese census may spur the Communist Party there to further relax its family planning laws or even to abolish them altogether. This is to be welcomed from a human rights point of view, and is perhaps to be expected from a demographic point of view. The previous […]
China began its once-a-decade census on November 1st. About seven million community workers and volunteers will help to count the world’s largest population. It is expected to take two months to complete, with the results released in April 2021. Over 400,000,000 households will be included, from the country’s largest cities to its most remote villages. Though there […]
South Korea has a problem: according to critics its abortion legislation is out of date. So earlier this month, a bill to decriminalize it up to the fourteenth week of was tabled in the South Korean parliament. South Korea has banned abortion since 1953. Exceptions were introduced in 1973 for cases of rape or incest. […]
It is estimated that the number of people who will be in the 60+ age group will reach 2 billion by 2050. The resulting demographic imbalance that this will create will have a major impact not just on economic growth but on all areas of public and private health care. Many of these issues have […]
In the eyes of many around the world the COVID experience of Australia and New Zealand has been a relatively benign one. But as I mentioned last week (here and here) New Zealand is going to have to deal with some significant demographic headwinds in the years ahead due to the pandemic. Now, it seems as if […]
Last week we learned that Ireland’s birth rate has fallen by almost 25% in the last five years. That includes all births registered here. Like most other European countries, we now have a birth rate well below the 2.1 births per woman needed to replace the population. In the more immediate term, we face the challenge […]
Japan is in an interesting geostrategic position. It has a constitution that states that the “Japanese people forever renounce war” but it lies in a neighbourhood in which war is unlikely to be able to be renounced. Across the Sea of Japan lies North Korea which has been known to kidnap Japanese chefs from time […]
Norway is a country that appears to have fared well during the Covid-19 pandemic thus far. However, the country has another worrying problem it must also face: the population is aging fast, meaning tough economic times still lie ahead. Norway is a country that appears to have fared well during the Covid-19 pandemic thus […]
Last week the Italian parliament passed a bill aimed at boosting the country’s low birth rate by supporting parents. “We have approved the Family Act to support parenting, combat the falling birth rate, encourage the growth of children and young people, and the help parents reconcile of family life with work, especially for women,” Premier Giuseppe Conte […]
The tiny but fiercely distinctive and geo-politically strategic nation of Armenia is facing a demographic crisis. Its population is about 2.9 million, its fertility rate is about 1.6, far below replacement level, and the population is slowly shrinking. The government is alarmed and launched some initiatives in March to reverse the trend — including testing the […]
All around the world, and not just in developed countries, fertility rates are plummeting. For many people, including dedicated demographers, large families and healthy fertility rates belongs to a bygone era. Many have also become skeptical of the fact that the Christian faith can still have the seemingly magical power of keeping fertility rates up. […]
Sometime last year, I got a phone call from a reporter from the Huffington Post who was working on a piece that was obviously intended to be a hatchet job directed at the pro-life movement. She quizzed me intensely on the alt-right and abortion, and seemed genuinely surprised when I pointed out that the alt-right […]
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