National Post
Soon after China reported that it saw more deaths than births last year, its first population dip in 60 years, Elon Musk, father of 10, again sounded the “population collapse” alarm, tweeting that a decline in birth rates globally heralds an “existential problem for humanity, not overpopulation!”
The billionaire Twitter owner is perhaps the highest profile figure associated with a resurgence of pronatalism, a new generation of “pro-birth” activists and anxious governments spooked by declining birth rates. Pronatalists fear the world is on the verge of “demographic collapse” and that if something dramatic isn’t done, the consequences will be dire. Among them, a rapidly aging world with fewer working-age bodies to support social programs and growing populations of pensioners; innovation will suffer, economies and living standards will stagnate or collapse. Civilization, Musk has warned, “will crumble.” It’s all a much bigger risk than global warming, the Tesla CEO has tweeted. “Mark these words.”
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Russia recently revived its “Mother Heroine” award, which delivers a payment of one million rubles (about $21,600) to women who birth and raise 10 Russian babies (the lump sum is paid on the 10th baby’s first birthday).
After 35 years of a one-child policy that led to a fertility rate of 1.16, gender-selective abortions and 15 million more men than women, China’s new three-child policy includes closing vasectomy clinics and limiting the availability of birth control, in addition to tax deductions, longer maternity leave and free fertility treatments for heterosexual couples.
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