Excellent article except for the omission of the fact that in many Islamic societies family planning & reproductive health of women is not allowed/condoned.

Judith,it is not just Islamic countries that ignore birth control. The Catholic church still opposes all forms of birth control.

The religion thing is a bit of a scapegoat, isn't it? I thought it was about the economics of slavery through the ability to obtain an ultra-cheap workforce via the denial of birth control. The question is whether this is advantageous for a country? Personally I think it will fail tragically, as slave labour economies like India and Bangladesh are now oversupplying the world market and are undercutting one another to gain market share. Meanwhile, the large population growth rates have made these nations dyfunctional cesspits of human deprivation.

The pop-growth zealot philosophy sees these humanitarian disasters as future economic powerhouses, whereas the evidence would suggest that infrastructure and an educated population are more important.

The answer to the population bomb is simple and -I would have thought- self-evident.
Better hospitals and an end to War.
Look at the countries targeted in this article. When mothers lose babies -and anticipate losing more- they have more babies.
Duh.
All the countries where infant mortality is lowest have negative growth, excepting immigration -and perhaps one crazy country that has actually been paying teenage girls to have children...
Another excellent counter incentive is compulsory schooling; especially in agrarian societies. The children in such places stop being a valuable (free labour) asset, and become more of a liability.
The simple way to have fewer children is to take better care of the children we have.

<When mothers lose babies -and anticipate losing more- they have more babies.
Duh.>

Funnily enough, the WHO estimates that there are over 200 million women of childbearing age who want to control their fertility but have no access to contraception. Because of this there are about 80 million unwanted pregnancies each year.

To paraphrase: When women of childbearing age - dont have access to contraception - they have more babies.
Double Duh.

You can see the benefit when contraception is made available in poverty stricken parts of the world: Women choose to have a more comfortable life, have fewer children and give them a better education. They do not tend to fit the stereotype offered by Grim of the Mum intent on having a cricket team to provide for her in old age.

Arjay, the article specifically stated the Catholic Church's continuing anti family planning stance in certain areas of the world but there was an absence of comment for similar in a number of Islamic nations. The world's problems can not be solved with continuing population growth. If we are all to survive/achieve a satisfactory standard of living, continual population growth MUST cease.