The Maltusian Moment? Should we eat our parents? Or our children? Or our pets?

Gross Domestic Product

Rates of birth, death, and natural increase per 1,000 population Natural Increase Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects: The 2004 Revision, Birth and Death Rates, Worldwide

Birth rates and death rates are declining around the world. Overall economic development, public health programs, and improvements in food production and distribution, water, and sanitation have led to dramatic declines in death rates. And women now have fewer children than they did in the 1950s. What happens when the lines birth rate and death rate cross? That is, who will pay for retirement (with a pay as you go system]? And this is already happening in many European countries. Notes on Birth and Death Rates, Worldwide

Reaching Replacement Fertility Average number of children per woman Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects: The 2004 Revision, 2005.

Diverging Trends in Fertility Reduction Average number of children per woman Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects: The 2004 Revision, 2005.

Billions Less Developed Regions More Developed Regions Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects: The 2004 Revision (medium scenario), Growth in More, Less Developed Countries