"Are Germans an endangered species? Stunning as it may seem, a steep decline in the German population since 1972 and fears the trend will gain pace have led demographers to warn of unsettling consequences.
The number of Germans has declined by 3.2 million — the population of Berlin — over the last 30 years but demographers’ concerns have mostly been ignored until now in a country scarred by the Nazis’ nefarious procreation pressures.
German leaders have now lifted the birth rate to the top of the political agenda for the first time since the Nazi era, and the two ruling parties are trying to outdo each other with pro-family measures.
“Germans are at risk of dying out if the trend continues,” said Harald Michel, managing director of the Institute for Applied Demography. He fears the German population could shrink from 75 million to 50 million by 2050 and further after that.
“The birth rates have been below the replacement rate for 35 years — a lethal development,” he added. “Germans could become an ‘endangered people’. It’s hypothetical now but we may have to think about ‘the last German’ at some point. The problem is compounded each generation. Children not born 30 years ago obviously aren’t there to have children now.”
Germans have long had one of the lowest birth rates in the European Union at 1.3 children per woman — far below the “replacement rate” of 2.1 needed to keep the population stable and about half the rate of 40 years ago."
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I am now interested in the counterintuitive phenomenon of population decline. This particular article happens to deal with Germany but the prospect of fewer people appears now to be likely acroos the world. I would welcome a discussion of this development. pl
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