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Comment by kogepathic | Hacker News Reader

> Monetary incentives to have less children

IMHO this isn't necessary in developed economies as the replacement rate is already below 2. [0]

Instead of paying people in developed countries to have fewer children, as the population of these countries would already be in decline were it not for immigration, we should spend the sane money on women's education and contraceptives in developing countries. [1]

Personally, my biggest concern is that the largest population growth is occurring in regions with the lowest levels of food security. Any disruption to the food supply in these areas will lead to large loss of life and/or geopolitical strife.

[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sub-replacement_fertility

[1] http://www.earth-policy.org/data_highlights/2011/highlights1...

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"Everywhere" is headed towards population stabilisation and constriction. UN predictions is a population decline towards the end of the century. First major "test" we'll see of those predictions is that China is expected to start seeing population decline in the 2030's or so.

Yes, but people in developed countries are also the biggest offenders. Even the most conscientious Americans have carbon footprints twice that of the global average. [0] And currently, the U.S. government pays citizens to have children. I have no idea if stopping that would have any impact, but slowly reducing the earned income tax credit is maybe a good place to start.

[0] https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080428120658.h...

Largest population growth in areas with higher mortality risk. You think maybe the two are related? That the stress of not knowing whether your offspring will survive to adulthood is a biological trigger for having more children.

> You think maybe the two are related?

Personally, no. Latin America is statistically more dangerous than North America yet their population growth is not significantly larger.

The largest factor toward population growth has been shown many times to be the education level of women. More choices for women means fewer children. This is disccused in my source links above.

Everyone likes to have sex, people in developed countries are just better equipped to do it safely.

I think it's better described as "largest population growth in areas with no pension". When the only way to provide for your old age is to live with your children, you have significant reason to have several.

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