The Baby Boosters

According to the Worldometer (the world population clock), at 12:22 p.m. today the planet's population of Homo sapiens was 7,769,974,138 with a net gain (births over deaths) of 114,862 so far this morning. You might think this was more than enough of us, given that we are multiplying on the Earth like a fungus, devouring its resources.

But to some it seems there is never enough of our kind. “Give birth!” Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro declared recently. “Every woman is to have six children! Every one! For the good of the country!” This from a man who has run his nation into utter dysfunction. Hospitals are barely functioning, women can't breastfeed properly because they are malnourished, and baby formula is unaffordable. But breed on, ladies. Perhaps he is just trying to replace Venezuelans faster than they can flee his corrupt, incompetent regime. So far about 4.5 million have fled.

In Hungary, President Orban offers IVF clinics, generous loans for couples who promise to procreate, and lifetime income tax exemptions for having four or more children, in order to encourage Hungarians to multiply.

Countries across Europe and other developed nations are instituting baby bonuses as their fertility rates decline. As Katalin Novak, Hungary’s minister of state for family, youth and international affairs, puts it, “Europe has become the continent of the empty crib.” In Eastern and Southern Europe, the declining rates are aggravated by young people seeking greener pastures elsewhere. These countries have legitimate worries about the economic ramifications of aging populations, but there is of course no shortage of young, industrious workers in the world. They are called immigrants and literally millions are desperately looking for places to make a fresh start.

But the repopulation is about much more than economics. It's also about building up the tribe. Vladimir Putin declares, “Russia’s fate and its historic prospects depend on how many of us there are … it depends on how many children are born in Russian families.” Putin, Orban et al. don't want people; they want racially correct people. It becomes some kind of population race.

It is one thing to provide children's benefits to assist lower income families, such as our Canada Child Benefit, but promoting population growth for growth's sake on a planet already swarming with excessive humanity is not just foolish, it's unsustainable and potentially suicidal.