The word “demography” triggers a glaze-over mechanism in the minds of all too many of us. Yes, populations are ageing, there are ever smaller cohorts of women of childbearing age and less children today mean less workers and taxpayers tomorrow. But surely the world is overpopulated, and the issue of world population decline is a problem for the future?
No, no, no says demographer Paul Morland. It was a problem for the future but now it has arrived, and we had better wake up and deal with it.
Hat’s off then to Morland. Firstly, he has written a highly readable book, No One Left, laying out everything we need to know on this subject including the consequences of ageing and shrinking populations. Then he argues for a solution, and it is one that many really don’t want to hear. His subtitle is “Why the World Needs More Children” but I bet that if his publishers had let him, he would gladly have had “Read This First and Then Be Fruitful and Multiply”, instead.