Quote:
Originally Posted by kato13
There is much wisdom in what you say.
One nit pick
Currently (2022) the the 4 most powerful forces in NATO are above 1.5
UK 1.6
France 1.7
US 1.7
Turkey 1.8
I believe the only others are Bulgaria 1.6 and Romania 1.8 but how much value would they provide.
Source https://data.worldbank.org/indicator...ame_desc=false
This is why I would like to see more. 2% is the minimum. If this is, as I have been told, really a clash of cultures which will effect the course of the continent, maybe up it to 3 or 4.
Personally I feel Russia's own demographics crash (1.4), while pulling (and the Ukrainians killing) so many soldiers from districts that generated above average population growth, makes this Russia's last hurrah (without self destructing). Even so if other NATO countries make conscious decisions not to do anything serious for their own defense, I can see more and more Americans not seeing the value in shouldering such a great percentage of costs of maintaining NATO's defensive strength. |
Agreed. One interesting thing that during the Cold WAr, Romania's Nicolae Ceaușescu had his own "Lebensborn" type program to encourage large families as well as basically forcing couples just to make children. I work in Medicaid dental insurance taking calls and I talked to ne of those babies who was born under that program in 1984. She was shocked on how an American would know this.
I think at some point the downward trend in population will reverse, how, when an d why, I can't say. My guess is that the "powers that may be" of countries will encourage large families to fill the demand for labor, military and so forth. West Germany had "Kindergeld," Child Money to encourage growth but it did not quit work. I think for that to work, you need a more desperate situation.
The ideal population is 2.1 kids per family, weak growth as well as the 0.1 being there to replace losses of early child death due to things like auto wrecks and cancers.