NPG Publishes Part II of Nathanial Gronewold's The Birth Dearth, Urging a Paradigm Shift Away from Pronatalism
ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 25, 2025 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Negative Population Growth (NPG) announces the publication of Embracing the Birth Dearth, Part II: The Right Stuff. Nathanial Gronewold's two-part series, The Birth Dearth, presents a rigorous analysis of global population trends and policy ineffectiveness in managing demographic change.
Building upon his previously released work, Gronewold directly challenges the conventional wisdom that boosting birth rates is the viable solution to an aging society, especially in the United States. "Do you want to know why boosting the birth rate isn't a solution to an aging society?" Gronewold asks. "Because you can't save a dollar by spending ten."
Current global and domestic declines in birth rates are often portrayed as a crisis. However, Gronewold offers a comprehensive counterpoint, arguing that the phenomenon should be accepted—even embraced—as a positive for societal, economic, and environmental well-being. "Nothing grows forever," he writes. "Our global economy is unsustainable, and our environment is under enormous pressure…With each passing year our extreme population numbers make living in crowded environments more difficult and the future less clear. This is what's driving birth rates lower. The birth dearth is the clearest sign to ever emerge that the human population is too large and desperately needs to be smaller."
Rather than attempting to arrest the natural and inevitable decline in births through expensive, ultimately futile pronatalist policies, Gronewold advocates for the urgent adoption of pro-aging policies. These include:
- Banning age discrimination
- Leaning on automation and technology to enhance the productivity of older workers
- Encouraging healthier lifestyles and aging
- Pursuing public pension reforms
Gronewold contends that continued efforts to spark a new baby boom will only result in a future cycle of dependency, with each new generation eventually becoming dependents themselves. "Attempts to stop the birth dearth will only lead to worse outcomes later down the road," he explains. "Meanwhile, the new workers arising from any second baby boom will eventually become elderly dependents themselves. Then what? A third baby boom? Didn't the first baby boom create the very problem we're now trying to solve? Doesn't this seem like a kind of treadmill to nowhere? Well, let's get off now while we still can."
Instead, Gronewold urges policymakers to invest in strategies that support current citizens as they age, rather than attempting to engineer population growth. He asserts that healthier aging, age-inclusive workforces, and improved systems for elder care represent the most responsible and effective approaches for governments facing demographic transition.
The full publication is now available at NPG.org, offering comprehensive insights into population decline, the shortcomings of pronatalist agendas, and actionable recommendations for a future guided by realistic, sustainable policy goals.
Since 1972, NPG has worked to educate both the public and policy leaders about the impacts of overpopulation. With a steadfast commitment to reducing population growth to achieve a sustainable balance with our environmental resources, NPG continues to be a leading voice of reason in a world often driven by the pursuit of perpetual growth. We do not simply identify the problems – we propose solutions. For more information, visit our website at NPG.org, follow us on Facebook @NegativePopulationGrowth or follow us on X @npg_org.
Media Contact
Craig Lewis, Negative Population Growth, 703-370-9510, [email protected], https://npg.org
SOURCE Negative Population Growth
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