ANALYSIS: UK Population in Decline
News Analysis
As Pope Francis calls on young Italians to have fewer pets and more children, the issue of a declining fertility rate has also been brought to the fore in the UK.
Backbench MP Miriam Cates declared the approach of a population collapse at the UK’s first National Conservatism conference. Charity Population Matters, which campaigns against population growth, has dismissed such warnings as “a phantom menace” and a “quite fringe” opinion.
But statistics show that unless there’s a rebound in the fertility rate, the UK will soon join the growing number of countries with an ageing and declining population, facing significant economic and societal challenges….