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The Forum > Article Comments > Going extinct is no fun > Comments

Going extinct is no fun : Comments

By Michael Cook, published 15/8/2012

Singapore's greatest threat is from its own imploding birth rate.

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One may well wonder where this fertility rate figure comes from, or what it actually means. The Singapore government quotes a rate of 1.20, see http://www.singstat.gov.sg/stats/keyind.html#birth

Wikipedia (whose source is given but is a broken link) quotes 1.1
(in 2010), see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Singapore (near end of first para)
Posted by jeremy, Wednesday, 15 August 2012 10:46:28 AM
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Japan has been facing this problem for quite a while. The answer is immigration. There are plenty of Iraqis, Afghans, Tamils and others who would love to live in Singapore.
Posted by DavidL, Wednesday, 15 August 2012 11:07:33 AM
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Given that the population of China in 2011 is given by Wikipedia as 1,344,130,000, I can't see that Singapore (5,183,700) is going to have any difficulty maintaining a supply of new citizens -- quite the reverse, in fact.
Posted by Jon J, Wednesday, 15 August 2012 12:41:56 PM
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Michael is of course one of the many head in the sand so called conservatives who erroneously think and advocate that the human population can keep on expanding for forever and a day - such is of course an ecological impossibility.

As proof of this please check out the new book by Callum Roberts titled Ocean of Life: How Seas Are Changing. The book was reviewed in the Review section of the Weekend Australian. Just reading the various reviews available on the internet is a real reality check (for the expanding for forever and a day boosters). The review ended with this quote from the book

"The world is living on borrowed time. We can't cheat nature by taking more than is produced indefinitely, no matter how fervently politicians or captains of industry may wish it (or christian fundamentals - added by me). Rich nations can outsource production to poor ones, but, at some point, fish stocks will collapse there too and then there will be no fish to be had at anyone price."

Meanwhile as an example of how dreadful the world-view, and thus the applied politics, that Mercator promotes, why not Google Salvo Magazine which links into Mercator. In my opinion the said magazine is one of the most benighted publications in the business - even more so because it pretends to be religious.
Posted by Daffy Duck, Wednesday, 15 August 2012 1:14:32 PM
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An object lesson in what happens when governments meddle in the personal lives of its citizens. One moment they say "spend, spend, it's good for the economy", the next it is "save, save, it's, um, good for the economy". One day it is "keep it in your pants, we're overcrowded", the next it is "One each, and one for Lee Kuan Yew". For a while it its "borrow your heart out, grow the economy", the next it is "savings are good, it keeps our net debt under control". The only consistent theme is that they haven't the faintest notion what the outcome of their exhortations will be.

Singapore won't "become extinct". Mr Lee's view of Singaporean-ness might take a hit - by the sound of it it already has - but he has for many years been happily exploiting the cheap foreign labour that enabled both partners to go out to work on the growth treadmill. What did he expect? Oh, that's right, he didn't bother to work that part out.

If only politicians didn't believe they can play god all the time, and simply let people get on with it.
Posted by Pericles, Wednesday, 15 August 2012 4:41:46 PM
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What can I say, good on Singapore for leading the way. I am not sure why having immigrants is seen as a problem. Most immigrants come because they want the lifestyle of the country they are coming to.

Of course there are those that seek to change the society they move to but then so do many local born, as long as that debate is open and healthy then that's also a good thing as the only constant is change itself.

The author seems to be saying slowing population growth is a bad thing, what does he suggest when there are 30, 40, 50, 100 Billion people on the Planet ?
Posted by Valley Guy, Wednesday, 15 August 2012 6:16:40 PM
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