18 years of age, does that mean that most people are gay? or just don't know how to use the equipment properly? just thought it was a bit odd that children don't outnumber the adults...

the sexual revolution taught everybody how to masturbate themselves into sterility?

think it's a fundamental change in philosophy since the 1900s. back then, you'd have 10 children and hoped that a few of them lived. now you have one and demand that people protect them. musta drank too much waiting for a game of WoD to start.

Accurate assessment. Also we live in a society where for many people children are a hinderance to their career aspirations and a financial burden so they choose not to have any or to have just one or two. I wonder as these "Western" philosophies begin to spread around the world if we will start seeing a decline in world population.

I'll add it to the list of arguments that won't be heard when the IRS demands that i start paying taxes again.

lets see

100%/24% ~= 4

18 years * 4 = 72 years


US life expectancy ~= 72 years

I think it's right on track for a non-exploding population?

that don't make sense qzjul. you're stating that the birth rate is determined by life expectancy... so essentially the people have a clue about how many children they should produce because they know how long they'll live when they're birthing out babies?

Well the country with the largest population in the world is trying hard to enforce a 1-child policy...

parents with money:

career>babies

babies are made at age of ~40 (if at all) and then it'll be quite likely only 1 baby.

qz isn't saying that at all. He's not giving any explanation for why the US birth rate is stable right now.

He's simply pointing out given US life expectancy, it makes sense that about 1/4 of Americans are under the age of 18.

Here's another way to look at it:

If the US life expectancy is ~72, and 72/18 = 4, then the average American spends 1/4 of their life under the age of 18. Therefore, it makes sense that about 1/4 of Americans are under the age of 18.

-Fooglmog
Guy with no clue.

he's linking birth rate to life expectancy and it doesn't make any sense because people in the past made a heck of a lot more babies while having a lower life expectancy.

they live longer and healthier now, so we should have more children per couple, not less.

many women put career 1st and don't want babies, some women make lots of kids but due some don't do any or just 1 there are more elder ppls than younger.

i understand what you're saying Marshal, but it sounds like qzjul and Fooglmog think that a balance is achieved. there is no balance in nature. proliferate until you can't.

humans proliferate but most are in 3rd world countries (africa etc) and in usa women who have alot kids are somewhat usually immigrants or non-white.

Right; but there *IS* getting close to a balance even if it is temporary, in the US/world -- we're trending towards 0 growth, finally

i just doubt that it can be tied to life expectancy. but i haven't been properly educated.

Most of the baby boomers are not having kids any more, they still outnumber everybody else by a bunch.

baby boomers are evil incarnate. is it possible for me to pay off your mortgage now, mam, or did you borrow more money against it to be an unruly fluff from hell because you refuse to let death in the door?

meh, most people who retire have the good decency to drop dead after they've enjoyed the first year of their reward for working an entire lifetime.

youre just a bundle of joy tonight

it's really a pretty good night. i got some frags in. and they didn't even look like old people. not even sure how to handle the Hi, Mom, you blew every cent that you ever earned, and i can't afford your life support question.

you won't actually just exactly how much life can piss you off... probably time for me to take a nap. nurse, can i see your nice boobies now, or do i need my medication first?

90% of the current Vietnamese pop was born after 1975...True story bro.

Ummm, I believe the average american woman is expected to have 1.9 babies right now. 2.1 is required for a stable population for the usa. That means barring immigration the US population would drop, albeit relatively slowly. This is opposed to Italy and Japan where the current birthrate is apprx 1.4/woman which means in the next 50 years the population should drop by close to half.

Compare to a country like Niger where they may require a birthrate of around 2.5 to maintain their population but they have a birthrate of around 7/woman.

Credit: Google.

https://www.cia.gov/...k/rankorder/2054rank.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/...-class.html#axzz2JqOWWRnv

http://www.nationmaster.com/...bir_rat-people-birth-rate

well I have 4 kids so I know how to use my stuff :P lol. Not going to have any more tho and if I do it was just meant to be.

Women now days don't want to give up their careers to look after a gaggle of kids. And in some cases they have to work to keep the double income it costs to pay the bills. Cost of living is high in some places.

Here in Vancouver the average detached home price is like 950k or something stupid. Van is a bit of an anomaly, but still.

Is there any particular reason why the population of post industrial states should continue to increase, dibs?

And again, as others have mentioned, you basically needed to have a higher birth rate in the past because the overall death rate, especially infant mortality, was much much higher. Makes sense to me..

no particular reason, it just seems odd to me that we don't have more children. probably just an effect of planned parenthood. i don't know. people love making babies, so why aren't babies being made?

it's also tied to the thought that maybe nobody can afford the cost of raising babies.

Because women have options that enable them to make choices about their own bodies, and many have decided not to have kids, or have them later, etc.

It makes sense to me.

hehe. i see the reasons, but it still feels odd.

if you mean ppls love sex then sure but nowadays there are n+1 ways for women to prevent to get preggo.

some of those who could afford to make babies won't make any or only 1 and some of those who can't afford to make babies make many babies (planned or un-planned).

Also having more than one kid in a year is a relatively rare thing for a woman.
:P

Or are infertile... and can't produce offspring.

Build more residential buildings..

http://en.wikipedia.org/...i/File:US_Birth_Rates.svg

This links to a graph of the US Birth Rate. The red portion is the Baby Boomer Generation. Between ~1979-1995 we have the "Boomer Echo". I'm part of the "Boomer Echo" generation. Looking at what the last 10 years have entailed, it doesn't suprise me that my generation has collectively put the breaks on having kids. Contraception has become widely available and not just tolerated, but encouraged more than at any other time. We can look at the economy and decide to wait on having children.

On that note, I expect the US birthrate to see a bump starting about 9 months after the economy really starts picking up. This will be for all intents and purposes a "Great Recession Echo".

Negative. Life expectancy has nothing to do with human birth rates. Once a woman reaches menopause she ceases to have children, irregardless of how old she is. Your statement only works if couples continue to have children throughout their entire lives, which is not the case. Furthermore, the rate of crippling birth defects or other genetic problems (i.e. Down Syndrome) dramatically increases with women over 30 years of age. The majority of children are born to women in their 20s/early 30s. In comparison to say, a mouse, who may be fertile for most of their short lives, humans spend a smaller percentage devoted exclusively to giving birth and procreating. This is a throwback to earlier times in history when the average life expectancy was 30-40 years of age. During that time, it could reasonably be expected that the percentage of the population 18 and under was far higher, not because couples were producing more babies, but because the dilution effect that Qzjul pointed out wasn't occurring. With the advent of modern medical techniques, people are living longer, driving down the percentage of the population under 18.

TLDR: It's fine and you're reading into the statistic wrong. What Qzjul said.

still feels like there should be more children, not less. but what is, is what is. I'm reading the Witch World series, maybe it has something to do with it. bunch of old, crazy, power hungry women in charge of Estcarp driving it into the ground because their panties wet.

think i might post better drunk at night than i do in the morning. probably not. dang typos.

Witch World. Classic :P

LOL this