Comments on: Italy’s Low Birthrates=Demographic Suicide?

By: Laura

Laura — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 00:47:36 +0000

Scott, I agree with you–there does seem to be an element of wanting the population to be mostly “Italians” in Italy–on the other, there is the element of losing cultural heritage if the birthrate goes too low. Economic driven..if the economy ever gets better, my prediction is the birthrate will go up again…

By: Scott

Scott — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 23:49:34 +0000

I wonder if there’s an element of racism here in the Italian and papal concerns here. A declining birthrate may translate into a greater demand for (ohmygod!) more immigrants from outside Europe.

In terms of Catholicism, it along with other branches of Christianity has had to face the fact that the fastest growing membership for Christianity is in Latin America, Asia, and African. Pretty soon, white Christians will be in the minority of Christianity if they are not already. That may be hard to imagine for a papacy that’s always been European.

By: Ami

Ami — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 15:00:52 +0000

This is a personal decision to make and no one can talk into the other about producing more for the sake of the state, their just want slaves to be able to move the economy!

i personally choose not to have children for other maters apart from ofcourse the amount of time and energy needed to raise a child into healthy functioning adults. To be honest, its a world i would like to bring someone into if i cannot gurantee their happiness in every way. I was involuntary born but have done my very best to make myself and others around me happy and lives easier. I worked hard to make sure i have put roof my head,got the best education i could afford,eat healthy,give charity to the less unfortunate,travelled the world. i have lived my best life and have no regrets.

By: Laura

Laura — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 22:45:35 +0000

I think most Italians did not take the bait because they knew 1000 euros would be a drop in the bucket for raising more than one child! The government is thinking about it again–let’s see what they offer this time and what if anything different results…~L

By: Erin

Erin — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 20:41:24 +0000

No, there is no amount of money that would make me want to have a child just for the sake of the extra cash. Money is rarely the issue with anything; it’s usually something else. Maybe it’s the time & stress involved, age, health concerns, costs involved, concern of world population & diminishing resources, etc. For those Italians who took the 1000 Euros, I bet it was long spent before the baby was a year old.

I find it curious that a highly Catholic country has a diminishing birthrate — obviously, many couples are using some form of birth control! Each person / couple should be able to decide what is best for themselves and their family without unwanted interference by the church or state.