November 18, 2004

"RUMSFELD was right, this is 'old Europe'":
The watershed decline in the birthrate occurred from 1967 to 1972 [when the birth rate dropped from] 2.5 children per couple to 1.5 .. without new immigrants, Germany's population would wither from 82 million to 24 million by 2100 .. Along with the shrinking comes aging. At current birthrates, the number of schoolchildren will fall nearly 12 percent by 2050. One in every three Germans will be over 65, double the ratio today.
(via Memeorandum).

If you haven't yet read Pat Buchanan's The Death of the West let me recommend it. The thing is full of demographics and actually quite well done. No one has ever said that Buchanan cannot write. Posted by Greg Ransom | TrackBack