Falling birth rates good
From Nick Reeves
Sir: It’s high time that governments weaned themselves off the myth, put about by certain economists, that a large population is good and that a declining population is bad (‘Where have all the babies gone?’, 4 March). People are not just economic units contributing to GDP. They all take their toll on the environment.
With water scarcity, an energy crisis and human-induced climate change, we are already in ecological overdraft. If this were a bank loan, the debt would have been called in years ago. A recent WWF report suggested that the optimum population for the UK is 30 million souls, so we Brits are already in serious trouble. If governments around the world are really committed to sustainability it is time to consider the fact that a smaller population may be, not an economic disaster, but the answer to our ecological crisis.
Nick Reeves
Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management, London WC1
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