"K. Feete" schreef:
> And Darryl "The World Is Fine, I Don't Have To Give Up My SUV" Shannon
> spake once more:
>
> > First world
> >growth rates are essentially zero, and are negative in some cases.
>
> Um, as far as I can remember, *two* cases- Sweden and somebody else. And
> not all other first world countries are at zero population growth. The
> US, for example, I'm pretty sure is at +1.2, and most of the rest are the
> same, which (if you do your averages) does *not* equal "essentially
> zero". The growth rate of first world countries is significantly smaller
> but still positive.
The growth of the Dutch population was actually negative until a few years ago
IIRC. Birthrates were at an all time low and still declining. You hardly ever
see Dutch families with more than two kids anymore. In most families both
parents have a job and therefor not much time for loads of kids. Another reason
for decline in birthrate was that the female baby boomers mostly are well
educated and want to profit from their education to first build a stable career
for themselves, so there is no time for more then one or two kids once they
decide to have them.
Sonja
