Why is Europe losing the will to breed?

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It’s not working even for them. Turkey and Iran have low birth rates. This is and will become a global problem. But people are too hype on overpopulation to notice.
 
Christianity views children as a gift from God. Islam in many respects views children as a weapon of jihad. Yasser Arafat once boasted that “the womb of the Arab woman is my strongest weapon.” Muhammad stressed that his fighters should ‘marry women who are prolific’ so that Muslims will outnumber their enemies.” (from an article by William Kilpatrick)

In my parish there are a number of large families. I love to see them at Mass. Being around children makes me feel young again—no small feat. But much of Europe and America, it seems, no longer likes children. Yet it is the children of today who will take care of their elders in their old age, if not directly, then through their taxes to support social programs. There is no substitute for the next generation.
 
SuperLuigi said:
It’s not working even for them.
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"Islam is the world’s fastest growing religion - and not just in Muslim majority nations: 10% of all Europeans are projected to be members of the Muslim faith by 2050, according to a recent Pew Research Center study.

The study estimates that from 2010 to 2050, Muslims will have increased across the world by 73%, …Why? Muslim women have more children, on average – 3.1 children compared to 2.3 for all other religious groups combined, Pew says."
From CNN:


I am sorry to see Catholics and other Christians fall behind and have fewer children.
 
Other religions are falling behind, but Islam doesn’t have an answer for contraception, either.
 
SuperLuigi said:
When you have countries like Germany where it’s cheaper to be on welfare than to get a job or you can retire on “disability” because of hair salon fumes at 45 in Greece, where’s the incentive to work and provide for a family?
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this is simply wrong, telling you this as an german employee.
 
SuperLuigi said:
It’s not working even for them. Turkey and Iran have low birth rates. This is and will become a global problem. But people are too hype on overpopulation to notice.
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sorry, but over 70% of Iran´s population is under the age of 25. They don´t have birth rate problems.
 
AlNg said:
"Islam is the world’s fastest growing religion - and not just in Muslim majority nations: 10% of all Europeans are projected to be members of the Muslim faith by 2050, according to a recent Pew Research Center study.

The study estimates that from 2010 to 2050, Muslims will have increased across the world by 73%, …Why? Muslim women have more children, on average – 3.1 children compared to 2.3 for all other religious groups combined, Pew says."

From CNN:
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…which has nothin g to do with islam, but with culture. Children are seen as welcomed blessing in the middle east, even in christian, jewish or zoroastrian families.
 
We are to ‘make disciples’.
Unfortunately, evangelization is a delicate balancing act. Some are just ashamed to talk about the Gospel when the opportunity arises. Some are afraid of being judged by militant secularists. Others are doomsday preachers and we know the fruits of doing that.
alice24 said:
sorry, but over 70% of Iran´s population is under the age of 25. They don´t have birth rate problems.
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That doesn’t change the fact Iran has a fertility rate below replacement at 1.83 and Turkey just below replacement at 2.06.
JimG said:
Yet it is the children of today who will take care of their elders in their old age, if not directly, then through their taxes to support social programs. There is no substitute for the next generation.
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Euthanasia. (Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)
 
Annie said:
Social Security and Medicare, otoh, mean they don’t have to have children to care for and support them in their old age.
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Unfortunately that’s a short term gain, long term detriment. Most social programs came out of the post WWII baby booms where you had more workers than retirees. When people stop having kids it means there are no younger workers feeding into the system. Eventually the whole system collapses. I jokingly say that my 7 kids are my retirement plan. I certainly don’t expect social security to be around when I’m old enough to collect.
 
ATraveller said:
That doesn’t change the fact Iran has a fertility rate below replacement at 1.83 and Turkey just below replacement at 2.06.
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I read that the birth rate in Iran is 17.8 births per 1000 population per recent years whereas in Germany it is 8.5 births per 1000 population per recent year.
 
We’re using different measures. The one you’re citing is birth rate and I was citing the total fertility rate. For comparison, Germany’s TFR is 1.44.
 
Yes, it is a short-term gain. But when people are looking at their own situation, and there are social forces pushing expensive upbringing, on the one hand, and the dangers of overpopulation on the other, people are generally not going to make decisions which have a good effect long-term for society.

Very sad.
 
This has been a problem for some years now. There’s a variety of causes,
1, People getting married later as their schooling is taking longer also.
2. It’s just REALLY EXPENSIVE over there. Nothing is for free. Public toilets cost a euro.
Water with dinner or lunch costs 4 to 6 euros. Gas is like 7 euros a gallon (9 or 10 bucks per gallon). Food is big money. How can anybody SAVE any money that way?
3. My impression from my visits which have only been 2 is that they just don;t cater to families and kids. little in the way of playgrounds or kids activities in a lot of major cities. Not a lot of kids meals at restaurants. They have these things but they’re just not as common.
 
alice24 said:
sorry, but over 70% of Iran´s population is under the age of 25. They don´t have birth rate problems.
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Yes, they do. Their TFR is only 1.68.
alice24 said:
…which has nothin g to do with islam, but with culture. Children are seen as welcomed blessing in the middle east, even in christian, jewish or zoroastrian families.
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The rates are still falling.
 
Is it practical to expect a population to always grow? Seems we setup ourselves for trouble when we developed systems that depend on infinite growth.

Might be economically tough, but maybe we are overdue for a smaller population?
 
With the current trends in total fertility rates in the West, we will definitely get a smaller population. Population growth will continue for a certain period, then inevitably reverse, leading to serious depopulation. I do not think this trend can be reversed. It means the western nations will become economically non-viable, just like small Kansas towns which depopulated themselves to extinction.
 
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