Thursday, March 09, 2006

Birth Rate Paints Picture of Future America

News from Agape Press: "...A nationally syndicated columnist and author who has extensively researched declining birth rates on the continent of Europe believes the current trend suggests Europeans may become the newest endangered species. Maggie Gallagher is president for the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy. She says she thought the United States was on the verge of a 'fertility crisis' with a birth rate of just over two children per woman. However, she says America's birthrate is high compared to Europe's rate of less than 1.5 children per mother. 'You need a little more than two children to replace the population,' Gallagher notes, 'and no country in Europe is anywhere close to that, with the possible exception of Ireland ... and most countries are just not producing enough children.' Also the columnist contends, Europeans' declining fertility has necessitated a large influx of Muslims onto the continent. 'They weren't having children, so they needed to have some workers in the next generation. If you have a healthy population, you can take a certain amount of immigration and you assimilate. But if people aren't having children, there's not a lot of people for the next generation of Muslim immigrants to assimilate with.' Europeans' low fertility rate is a growing problem, Gallagher warns; and if Americans are not careful, she says the U.S. could wind up facing the same crisis. [Chad Groening]"

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