Paul Morland

Author, broadcaster and leading demographer Dr Paul Morland says too few babies are being born in the world for humanity to replace itself and the results will be a calamity for humankind unless something is done.

Morland says the birth trend is already clear in the developed world and it is spreading to the rest of the globe. South Korea is already facing a population decline of more than 85 per cent within two generations, leading to labour shortages, pension crises and ballooning debt. The developed world may be able to delay the impact through immigration but that means the countries immigrants come from will get old before they get rich. Morland argues that we need new attitudes towards parenthood and progressive polices to support childbirth.

Morland has been an associate research fellow at Birkbeck, University of London, and a senior member at St Antony’s College, Oxford. His previous books include Tomorrow’s People, The Human Tide and Demographic Engineering.