You're right that the number of babies born per adult is falling in the wealthier nations, but the survival rate of the babies is also a lot higher so I'm not convinced it is actually "harder to reproduce" than it was in centuries past.
But certainly the stagnation in population growth is a major concern for many Western nations. It seems an increasingly popular trend for governments is to dangle incentives for having more babies. It is amazing how much impact a once off "baby bonus" from the government can have on birth rates. If people are willing to have another baby to collect an extra $1000 it makes me wonder if they are having the baby for the right reasons (and of course the $1000 will be insignificant compared to the costs of raising the child).
Slashdot Mirror
Could this be a source of gravitational waves strong enough to be detected on earth?
You're right that the number of babies born per adult is falling in the wealthier nations, but the survival rate of the babies is also a lot higher so I'm not convinced it is actually "harder to reproduce" than it was in centuries past.
But certainly the stagnation in population growth is a major concern for many Western nations. It seems an increasingly popular trend for governments is to dangle incentives for having more babies. It is amazing how much impact a once off "baby bonus" from the government can have on birth rates. If people are willing to have another baby to collect an extra $1000 it makes me wonder if they are having the baby for the right reasons (and of course the $1000 will be insignificant compared to the costs of raising the child).