Is The World Running Out of Children? (And Sperm??)

Let’s hope so!

They can’t power a car or provide a habitat for local wildlife but children are nevertheless considered one of our most valuable resources.

And even though babies are essentially an infinitely renewable resource that doesn’t mean we can’t run out of them.

The global birth rate has fallen since the 1950s. The US birth rate has been in decline for decades. In 2017, the US saw the lowest number of births in 28 years and has been below replacement level since 1971. And infertility rates are on the rise as sperm counts decline. We’re not only running out children. We’re running out of sperm.

Even Huggies and Pampers are feeling the pinch as diaper sales plummet.

Are we looking at a Children of Men or Handmaid’s Tale scenario where children are a scarce commodity and we all live in a bleak dystopia? Could it be the beginning of the end for humanity?

Maybe . . .

But less children might be a sign that the world is getting better.

But first we have to talk about a guy named M. King Hubbert.