Birth Rates in Western Civilization

It seems that Western civilization is breeding itself out of existence by not having enough babies to replace the people who are dying of old age or disease. Birth rates have plummeted across the globe, in many countries across Europe and in the U.S.

Niger has the highest birth rate in the world with 44.5 babies born per 1,000 people per year. United Nations and the World Bank rank countries in a different order. Central Africa appears to be the fastest-growing population region globally. Birth Rate by Country 2026

Vatican City has 4.63 births per 1,000 people per year. The next lowest are Hong Kong (5.43 births), South Korea (5.62), Ukraine (5.75), San Marino (5.92), and Japan (6.65).

There are many reasons why women choose not to have children: a slow economy, dearth of jobs, the costs of raising a child, people choosing to further their careers over a family, older average ages for first-time moms, and the desire to travel and sow one’s wild oats while they are still young.

Governments have given incentives to couples to marry in many forms, i.e. down payment on homes, free childcare, starting motherhood financial packages, baby bonds, free maternity care, free hospital care, and tax deductions per child.

Other countries face overpopulation with problems such as overcrowding, poverty, and overwhelmed health care, low life expectancy, and low education levels.  In such cases the government may pass laws to forbid having more than one child or give incentives to couples to have less children.

Because we have free or inexpensive contraception in western societies and “planned parenthood” which engages in abortions, the replacement population rate is quite low.

The population replacement level is 2.1 children per family. U.S., U.K., and France have a replacement level of 1.5-1.6 babies per family, below replacement value. Perhaps with all the illegals who come here for birth tourism, the birth rate may be slightly higher than the 1.5-1.6 replacement value. Chad and Somalia have the highest replacement value of 5.9 children per family. Which countries have fertility rates above or below the “replacement level”? | Our World in Data

People have more babies in countries where the mortality rate is high, or agriculture is a principal industry. Planning a family there rarely involves any contraception and religious beliefs play an important role as well.

The earliest known document on contraception was found on an Egyptian papyrus from 1850 B.C. which described a concoction made of crocodile dung inserted into the vagina. Strangely, sometimes it worked. The function of the sperm was not discovered until 17th century A.D. Other birth control methods included sticky suppositories made of various strange substances, elephant dung, Egyptian recommendations on a papyrus to drink potions, irrigation with drugs, douching with wine and garlic, and even instructions how to bring about abortions.

Besides the added cost of feeding another mouth when resources were scarce, a papyrus revealed that Egyptian women were worried about the physical results of having multiple pregnancies. The Greeks even used olive oil as a form of contraception by reducing motility of the sperm. The Ebers papyrus from the 16^th century B.C. advised women to use acacia extract and honey as contraception. Interestingly, the mixture contains lactic acid which is considered today a conception-inhibitor.

The Greeks and the Classical Age were in favor of population control via various methods.

Plato and Aristotle “advocated limiting the size of families by contraception, abortion, and unwanted infants’ exposure.” 

Hippocrates, the 5^th century B.C. father of Greek medicine, invented an intra-uterine device composed of a lead tube filled with mutton fat, partially introduced via the cervix into the uterus. The foreign body, IUD, prevented pregnancies.

In antiquity both Greeks and Romans desired to control the size of their families. In the 2^nd century A.D., Actios, a gynecologist of Amida (now modern Turkey) proposed the use of washing the male’s member with brine or vinegar, both highly spermicidal.

Believers of the Old and New Testament, ancient Hebrews and early Christians, believed that it was their religious duty to propagate the human species and intercourse was reserved for such duty.

It was not until 1843 that the cellular union of egg and sperm was understood. Surprisingly the ancient, without the benefit of a microscope used methods and “devices” to control the size of their families.

There are many fascinating theories of the ancients and tribal peoples as to how humans are formed. The Hindus blamed the ibis; the Japanese the butterfly and the crane; American Indians the red spoonbill; ancient Teutonic tribes blamed the stork, hence the fairy tale that the stork delivers the babies; Trobriand Islanders believed that children came from the spirit world; Papua and New Guinea believed the eels impregnated women. To avoid pregnancy women had to stay away from such creatures. Some women even wore charms to protect them from unwanted pregnancies and problems in childbirth.

We must remember that civilization is made strong by its people. With a dwindling population, countries become weak and open targets to invasions by others. Rome was sacked by the Visigoths in 410 A.D. because the Visigoths wanted what the Romans had, they did not want to become Romans at all. King Alaric captured and plundered the city. The world was in shock. Rome never recovered; the western empire fell in 476 A.D.

 

 

 

 

 

  

Engineered Migration and Demographic Suicide

As the engineered tide of illegal immigrants is flooding Europe and North America, small countries are overwhelmed and have made inefficient and weak attempts to stem this deluge and to close the Schengen zone borders.

Griff Witte wrote on November 3, 2015 on the front page of the Washington Post, “As migrant tide reaches a new high, pressure builds for Europe to seal its borders.” As they are “tempted to close the doors” of the “cherished continent open borders for good,” the big white elephant in the room questions are, why would westerners destroy their nations on purpose by allowing in jihadists disguised as “refugees,” and, why is it necessary to bring in unskilled and often illiterate labor from third world nations?

As Michael Savage wrote so aptly in his recent book, with Government  Zero you have “zero borders, zero language, and zero culture,” you have a nation in shambles.

I wrote about western demographic suicide long time ago in my book, Liberty on Life Support, but it bears repeating that a senescent Europe is not having enough babies to replace its dying population. http://www.amazon.com/Liberty-Support-Ileana-Johnson-Paugh-ebook/dp/B008CL3G3M/ref=sr_1_3_title_0_main?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1405352347&sr=1-3&keywords=Liberty+on+Life+Support

Author George Weigel described how Europe is committing “demographic suicide” by failing to “create the human future in the most elemental sense, by creating a next generation.” http://eppc.org/publications/christophobia-afflicts-europe/

Most western European nations produce less than the necessary replacement value of 2.1 children per family for many reasons: birth control, abortion, unproductive and unemployed young people who live longer in their parents’ homes, pursuing careers, exploring and following immoral and perverted lifestyles, making selfish choices, and occupations that do not require a large family to support the farm. The solution has been to import immigrants to fill the demographic and no-skill employment needs.

The historian Neagu Djuvara found fault with the lack of ideals, morality and blatant debauchery among civilized society, especially young people. Europeans and Americans alike lack ambitions, he said, and have stopped having children. The West has thus created a vacuum which third world counties are more than happy to fill with their fertility rate of 8.1 children per family.

Legal and illegal immigration has been facilitated by generous welfare programs in nations like Sweden, Finland, Norway, U.K., France, Belgium, and Denmark.  Ghettoes were formed, countries within a country, where immigrants rejected integration, producing sub-cultures that clashed with western civilization in every way.

Refusing to learn the language, the immigrants promised the destruction of the very country they occupied. As they received welfare and free housing, they vowed to remake Europe into a new world order Caliphate.

Bruce Bawer aptly named his book, “While Europe Slept,” describing the Muslim takeover of many European countries as inevitable and enabled by appeasement, self-censorship disguised as political correctness and hate speech, apologies, and across the board accusations of “Islamophobia.”

The “guest workers,” “refugees,” “asylum seekers,” or “family reunification” claimants deliberately destroyed their papers in route to the country of destination, knowing that they would evade detection if they were terrorists. They came from very poor, remote villages, and were highly hostile to Western values and history, and are not likely to accept them.

They are very dishonest, corrupt, and adept at taking advantage of the generous welfare system: unemployment, public assistance, relief payments, child payments, disability, cash support, and rent allowance. Welfare is based on the honor system in some Nordic countries, but Islamic law gives them advice to abuse the infidels’ system, “to cheat and lie to the countries that harbor them.” The monetary benefits are considered “jizya,” a tribute that infidels in Muslim-controlled countries must pay in order to stay alive.

In line with this administration’s plans, young “refugees” are being settled around the country in small and conservative communities who have no idea how to deal with them, where they came from, and who they are. These young men of military age who hate western civilization and our way of life, are supposed to fill the vacuum and replace childless Americans.

People in the U.S. have various opinions why Americans are not having enough babies and why men and women in the civilized world are afraid of marriage and commitment. Dr. Savage dedicated part of one show to this very question.

The opinions of middle-aged men and women are varied:

 

-          Culture has changed,  one no longer needs kids to care for their parents in old age, and women work on careers full-time, leaving less time and resources for raising children

-          People are more selfish and are looking for that perfect wife from Hollywood, genetically perfect, plastically beautiful, smart, famous, and petite

-          Because men don’t commit to marriage, young women are pushing around strollers with dogs and cats

-          Young people play the field, can have sex every day with a different person, pornography is available everywhere, or they already live together without commitment

-          Birth control and abortions are readily available and cheap when compared to raising a child

-          Public schools and environmentalism have brainwashed students that there are already too many humans on the planet and are negatively affecting the health of Mother Earth

-          Out of wedlock kids are raised by welfare government-daddy

-          Morals have decayed and families have broken down by high rates of divorce and by government laws redefining marriage

-          The young have been raised to become the selfish “me and only me” generation

-          Economics dictated that children were an asset in agrarian societies but they are a liability in an industrial society; they live longer and without shame with their parents because they are looking for the perfect dream job

-          Young generation have such high and entitled opinion of themselves, they want high salaries right away, no effort involved, they are a gift to the world, and become depressed when reality hits

-          Helicopters parents have raised them with a false sense of self, they were told they were special and received trophies for participation, with no understanding of failing and starting over

-          If you did not marry someone in the village, you were a failure and had no one to care for you in old age; now you have mobility and accepted immorality, divorce is no longer shameful or a sin; you can tap into the whole world with the Internet, you bring a person from the other side of the world to marry; you are never satisfied and ads confuse you constantly thus exacerbating your narcissism

-          Television and Hollywood created a false sense of yourself, you are waiting for Mr. or Mrs. Perfect because you have plenty of time and  there is always something better out there; you want to be in the one percenters without effort or education, just overnight success

-          Ads projected the white father as the bumbling idiot and Hollywood portrays stupid parents who have to defray to the wisdom of their children, of their little brats who know better than they do

-          Women’s liberation and women working outside of home have destroyed the family unit, there is no more social pressure to get married while men are looking for “bad girls” because that is how the media portrays the beautiful and the desirable

The opinions of young males and females are:

 

-          Women’s liberation is to blame - once women decided to educate themselves, men felt less of an obligation to get married and take care of them

-          Millennials put off being adults because their parents coddle them and allow them to live in their homes indefinitely

-          People live longer thus they can delay maturity and marriage

-          Women and men with morals and religious beliefs are hard to find

-          If women show themselves more independent, men feel less obligated to provide

-          Children are more expensive and the economy is bad

-          Women are sexual objects and men do not respect them

-          The Internet facilitates pornography - men don’t feel the need to be monogamous

-          Definition of marriage has changed, marriage is no longer a religious covenant, it is a social contract and the law says you can now marry anyone and eventually anything

-          Divorce, alimony, and child support are expensive

-          Forced marriages don’t exist anymore because having kids out of wedlock is no longer shameful or scorned by society or by religion

-          Cheating is so prevalent that both men and women want to make sure they marry the right person in order to avoid an expensive and painful divorce

-          For Europeans, housing is so expensive, many potential couples cannot afford married housing or the wait list is so long that they delay marriage and live with their parents

Michael Savage asked pointedly why young men are terrified of the responsibility to have children, why would they allow family lines to die out with them, why commit cultural suicide while taking care of millions of illegal aliens’ children via tax-driven welfare. It is certainly difficult to find moral values in a bar, in a predominantly drinking and partying culture.

Men are afraid of commitment and cite economics as an important reason. But, was it ever inexpensive or easy to have children? “People had babies during the Black Plague and even in concentration camps during the Nazi regime,” Savage said.  Non-western cultures have no problem having lots of babies.

Is the culprit the “chickification” of men driven by the feminist “man-hating movement” that ridicules and infantilizes men, especially white males, and the lack of teaching manhood and responsibility? Is it rap music that glorifies violence against women and utter disrespect for life?

Is it the “hardening of women,” the tough females, who intimidate, scare, and drive off many men? Is it the government daddy that created generations of irresponsible young men who reproduce and abandon their offspring and the responsibility to raise and teach the child they created?

While young men and women keep searching for the perfect mate that does not exist, how is it, asked Savage that arranged marriages work well in other cultures that have no problem with fertility? Why do some women lie to have control of their exes, holding their children hostage to this manipulation?

Will the massive engineered migration from third world countries, the demographic suicide of the west, the overall degradation of western society, and the mental disorder of liberalism eventually doom western civilization?