Germany goes grey

According to liberals, this is the golden society on the hill: More bad news from Europe:

Germany saw a net drop of 143,000 people in 2003 when the number of deaths rose while the number of births dropped, government officials reported Monday.

The Federal Statistics Office said the number of deaths increased 1.6 percent to 858,000, while births fell 1.3 percent to 715,000 in the year.

Parallel to the fewer births, there was also a drop in the number of marriages, to 383,000 last year, compared with 388,000 in 2002, the office said.

The net population drop of 143,000 last year compared with a falloff of around 120,000 in 2002...

Besides the issue of maintaining population through immigration in order to keep Germany's social framework steady, is the related question of a society getting steadily older as the birth rate declines and life expectancy increases.

In a report last year, the Wiesbaden office projected that by the year 2050, more than half the population will be over 48 years old and one-third 60 years or older.

At that point, Germany's population is seen having dropped to around 75 million, or the level of the year 1963, according to the office's projections.

Unless something dramatic happens, old Europe - with its quaint quasi-socialist ideals and its brontosaurus-sized welfare states - will collapse under its own weight.

Hey, let's follow them!
- posted by total @ 4/06/2004 05:51:00 AM .