Pope Benedict's warnings last week in Vienna about abortion threatening the future of Europe have been generally treated with disdain and derision. This despite the clear evidence that the "birth dearth" the Pope speaks of is not a specter on the horizon, but is a dramatic danger that is already well entrenched.The average total fertility rate in European Union countries is about 1.5 children per woman. That is well beneath Zero Population Growth. And there are no signs that things will turn around. Despite actions by governments to boost population growth, individuals remain dedicated to the patterns of consumerism, self-enjoyment, later marriage, birth control, abortion, and so on that have created the birth dearth in the first place.
And it's not just Europe that faces this threat. Here are recent reports dealing with, respectively, Canada, Japan, and Australia that describe the same sad story.
