Quote:
Originally Posted by BBQMan
CS, I took your idea and decided to check if these numbers were at all realistic. I went to the CIA World Factbook for my data, so this is definitely NOT Wikipedia data. Here are the total fertility rate numbers for eight European Countries and eight primarily Muslim countries as well as the United States:
Total Fertility Rate – Children born/woman
Russia 1.41
Italy 1.31
Germany 1.41
United Kingdom 1.66
France 1.98
Spain 1.31
Poland 1.28
The Netherlands 1.66
Iraq 3.86
Iran 1.71
Saudi Arabia 3.83
Egypt 2.66
Pakistan 3.6
Libya 3.08
Turkey 2.21
Afghanistan 6.53
United States 2.05
No European country has a fertility rate that will support its population....
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The problem with analysis of numbers alone is that there are additional facts affecting the formula leading to the numbers.
Example: Do the numbers only reflect recorded births or infants at ___ months age?
Example: What is the infant mortality rate, and is it reflected in the umbers?
Example: Which nations have abortion-on-demand? Will that affect population renewal capacity?
Example: What is the immigration ratio (how many leave/how many come)?
I'm a fan of numbers, but only after I can understand what they are trying to represent, and ask myself what isn't part of the equation than can can affect their use.