The World's Changing Face

Take look at the world. Make it a long, slow look. Drink in the rich cultures. Gondolas in Italy. The Riviera in France. China's patchwork of farms. Embed those pictures in your mind because they will not be around long.

And this doesn't have to do with global warming -- the hottest day on record was in 1934 and only three of the top 10 hottest days occurred in the last 10 years (check out this site for more information on global warming data).

Rather, the changing face of the world is about low birth rates and sex selection. Western Europeans are not reproducing at a rate high enough to sustain their populations. In fact they're 30 percent below replacement. This creates delicate situations. For one thing, the balance is topsy-turvy.

People are marrying later and having fewer or no children. Remember the family pyramid? Mom, Dad at the top with their three or so children, and their spouses and children? Well, now it's Mom and Dad and their child. This means more people who are older at the top, and fewer young people at the bottom. Old people are considered a burden.

(Think this is not so? Remember the heat wave in France in 2003 when 15,000 people died? They were sick and elderly in hospitals and nursing homes whose adult children didn't interrupt their vacations to return home and take care of their dead parents' bodies, but left it to the facilities to find refrigeration units to hold the bodies until they were claimed. And France had the audacity to criticize America for the 1,100 deaths in New Orleans during Katrina.)

The Easter European countries will survive, but not the nations, not their cultures, because Muslim immigrants are living, working and having families there without assimilating into the cultures. Check out this clip on an issue Italy is facing.




In Western Europe, Russia's population has fallen so low even the United Nations doubts it has a chance to rebound despite recently implemented incentives for couples to bear children. Russia has one-sixth of the world's land mass -- and much of its oil supply -- and only 142 million people, whose life expectancy is 55.

To its south is China with its 1.3 billion people, three-decade-old one-child law, and fanatical emphasis on male children. China has 70 million single young men, more than half of whom will not be able to find a young woman to marry. A migration north may be a plausible alternative.

While not a new phenomenon, this changing face of the world's population bears increasing importance in light of other issues brought together in an article by a former CIA official Herbert Meyer. His four points are worth reading as his perspective is clear, unique, and devoid of emotion. It's also a good defense of the Judeo-Christian society and its embrace of intertwining faith with life in the modern world. For Herbert Meyer's full article, click here.

In the meantime, look at the world around you. Drag out your old National Geographics. Enjoy the view while it lasts.