In the last 20 years, we assist in serious discussions about the drastic decrease in the birth rate in well-developed countries. Governments of all colors began to take action in this direction starting with laws that encourage birth such as aid for young families, aid for newborns, the reception of immigrants in the case of Germany and France during the 2015-2016 immigrant crisis, and the prohibition of abortions even in rape cases, the case of some American states.
In order to understand why the birth rate has decreased and the public reactions, we will analyze this topic in two articles. In this article we will discuss the reaction of governments to the declining birth rates and the reasons behind their desperate measures to increase birth rates. In a later article we will discuss the arguments behind the decisions of the people who made the birth rate decrease.
GOVERNMENTS
We all know is that governments and all state institutions get their money from the state budget, that is, from ordinary people who pay annual income taxes. Once the birth rate began to increase after the Second World War, the number of parliamentarians and representatives from all state institutions began to increase as more representatives of society were needed.
In Romania, for example, a senator is appointed for 168,000 people and a deputy for 73,000 people.
What happens if the population number decreases?
If the number of the population decreases, the number of deputies and senators must decrease, and the same will happen to the number of positions in all state institutions because there is less work to be done compared to the number of the population. From this point of view, political parties and people thirsty for power and money wake up in a crisis of citizens to represent what it will mean for some of them to lose that high salary of deputy or senator.
All governments, regardless of political color, are concerned about declining birth rates, as this would mean that at some point that some people in the party will no longer hold high-paying positions.
Immigrants
Although the birth rate is declining in developed countries, the world’s population has been steadily increasing since World War II. As many people are starving in poor countries, as many are fleeing countries with military conflicts (Afghanistan), one solution would be to receive immigrants to fill the population gap. However, governments are rigid in accepting immigrants. Why?
- Because receiving immigrants means losing money to accommodate and integrate immigrants into society; money will be spent on their education and maintenance until they are able to work and adapt to the country’s culture.
- Then, immigrants do not have the power to vote unless citizenship is obtained. Therefore, spending money on immigrants means a waste of money and time for politicians because it is not known if they will win the next mandate.
- And there is another aspect, namely the politico-cultural one. From a cultural point of view, each party is associated with some ideas. Receiving immigrants would mean receiving a large mass of people who come with a culture of their own, which as a democratic state you must let them practice. This is often seen as a threat to local culture, which is why politicians listen to people fears and, when necessary, nurture people’s fears about immigrants.
Conclusions
The birth rate is a key source of the economic and political power of a state and of the political parties. If the birth rate decreases, then the number of people represented will decrease, but also the economic power of the state will decrease (until the technology will develop well enough to help maintain the economies). Hence the panic of governments towards declining birth rates. Technology helps us to produce what is needed with a much smaller number of people, but if the birth rate decreases, the large number of political representatives would no longer be relevant.
Then we have the European Union, where the number of citizens counts for the power to influence the EU decisions. Depending on this, each country has a number of parliamentarians in the European Parliament. Malta, Luxembourg, and Cyprus have the lowest power of representation in this institution with only 6 parliamentarians from each country, compared to Germany-96, France-79, and Romania-33.
Therefore, internally, maintaining a stable birth rate is about ensuring a well-paid job, and externally, it is about the power to influence the lifestyle of others by influencing international decisions.
