Q: Birth rates are dropping all over the world. Isn’t the
“population bomb” really a dud? Birth rates have dropped to
nearly half of what they were in 1950: from an average of 5
offspring to 2.6. Our growth rate has also fallen significantly,
as this chart from the US Census Bureau shows. Annual population
increase likewise has improved from a high of 87 million in 1989
to around 76 million in 2011. However, before we pop a cork to
celebrate the fizzle of our population explosion, there’s one
more chart—one most often ignored. Q: With birth rates,
fertility rates, and growth rates all falling, how can our
population keep on steadily rising? Although couples are
creating fewer of us, there are more couples creating those new
people, which makes more of us. For example, China’s 1.5 TFR is
way below “replacement level fertility,” and yet their natural
increase is 6.6 million per year (2011 estimate—down from 8.8 in
2010). Growth is projected to continue until 2030, 50 years
after implementing their one-child pol