Noah Millman reframes the debate over fertility rates:
Wild demographic swings – in either direction – put big stresses on society, but I don’t see why an aging population is more to be feared than a too-rapidly growing one. Afghanistan and Yemen, Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, all still have really high total fertility rates (and disastrous economies as well – which means labor force growth will badly lag population growth). I am far more worried about the consequences of that fact than I am about the consequences of low fertility rates across the developed (and much of the developing) world.
The Dish 