This November, a baby will emerge from her mother’s womb, draw her first breath, and announce her arrival into the world with a tiny cry. While this is the usual protocol for childbirth, one thing, in particular, will mark this child as unique. This baby will be Baby Eight Billion.
That day—when our planet becomes home to 8 billion human beings for the first time—marks an important milestone.
But is it a milestone on humanity’s upward path that we should celebrate or a warning of impending catastrophe over which we should despair? This depends on who you listen to.
Since the birth of Baby Seven Billion a little over a decade ago, the population controllers of the United Nations Population Fund and Planned Parenthood have not changed their tune. Their answer is clear: They would have preferred that Baby Eight Billion had never been born.
In fact, by promoting and performing as many abortions as possible, even up to the point of childbirth, they are doing all they can to reduce our numbers.
On the other hand, we celebrate the birth of Baby Eight Billion. We say, the more, the merrier.
Some Gloomy Guses say the world is overpopulated and that disaster looms. Sixty years ago, they said we would starve in the dark. Well, that didn’t happen.
Consider doing this. The next time you fly anywhere in the world, get a window seat, and look down. What you will see is an empty planet. We have room for Baby Eight Billion, Baby Nine Billion, and Baby Ten Billion, too!
But, in all likelihood, we will never reach such numbers.
The real problem our world faces now is a demographic winter. Our numbers are simply not growing much anymore. Fertility rates have plummeted.
Except for a few countries in sub-Saharan Africa, the world is now experiencing below-replacement fertility. Couples are no longer replacing themselves.
Many countries in Europe and Asia are in demographic freefall. This includes China, the most populous country on the planet.
So what happens to humanity, then? There ought to be vastly more young people than old people. Instead, we will have the opposite. The population pyramid will be upside down.
A rapidly aging society means stagnant economies. It is the young with their long-time horizons who start businesses, buy homes and cars, and drive the economy forward.
At the same time, the pressure on social services ratchets up to unsustainable levels, as there are ever more oldsters who need them than youngsters who can pitch in to help.
Did you know that the situation in Italy is so dire that rapidly depopulating hill towns are giving away houses to lure people to move in? Wolves have made a reappearance in certain parts of Germany.
Some say the world is rife with problems. It certainly is. We all know that. But we know that mankind is not the problem. Mankind is the answer.
Remember when they predicted famine in India? Hundreds of millions were going to starve, they said. And then, a scientist from Iowa named Norman Borlaug came up with a way for agricultural acreage to produce more grain—exponentially more grain. Not only did India not experience a famine, but it became a net exporter of grain.
What became known as the Green Revolution soon spread all over the world.
In other words, whatever problems man can cook up, man can also solve.
This is why we welcome Baby Eight Billion.
Who knows what wonders our newest little addition will cook up, and what problems she will solve through her genius.
And, odds are, she will marry and have children, perhaps many children, thus providing for the future in the most fundamental way—by providing for the next generation of humanity.
This, too, is a miracle.
Let us also join together in celebrating the birth of Baby Eight Billion. He or she is a sign of our hope and a guarantee of our future happiness and prosperity.
Baby Eight Billion, boy or girl, black or white, is not a liability, but an asset. Not a curse, but a blessing for all of us.
