Where are the babies?

World population is drastically decreasing. Much of the decline in birthrates comes from couples deciding to stop after having one kid.

This is the banner story of news magazine Newsweek (September 4, 2006).The top five reasons are: concern about the future, no steady partner, enjoy current lifestyle, expense and wouldn't enjoy life.

To Newsweek, this trend is significant because such development involves a major shift in mindset.Unlike in the past when population decline were caused by wars and famine, having less children or no children is a deliberate decision of people today.

"Never before has childlessness been a legitimate option for women and men in so many societies," says Catherine Hakim, who studies the phenomenon at the London School of Economics.

In the space of a generation, that tight social corset of pushing people to have children when they reach a certain age has largely vanished, thanks to better education, better job options for women and a more liberal society.

However, the decline in population which affects other countries doesn't include the Philippines, a country that still makes lots of babies. (attested by the NSO).

This reminds me of a story of a Japanese friend of a friend, living with her parents for 30 years, who was reprimanded by her mother for being selfish and unpatriotic because she opted not to raise a family of her own. "So much unlike her Filipino buddy", her Mom said.

This 30-year old Japanese retorted, "Ma (or whatever they call their mothers), I like being selfish; life is more enjoyable this way. Besides, having children for patriotic reasons feels like working in an assembly line factory. Filipinos probably don't know they are unhappy because of that."

She has a point there.

The Philippine government has long pointed out that the country's burgeoning population has negatively affected the quality of health care, food resources, water reserve, real estate, infrastructure etc.

But, take heart, Filipinos' baby-making skill has been put to good use in other countries. Did you know that Filipino-Germans are among the best performers in Germany, a country that has a dearth of babies?

These baby makers are given incentives, benefits and allowances for nurturing their kids. This proves that Filipinos are truly achievers in the "services" industry (wink).

While Filipinos are busy making babies, their neighbors, the Chinese, are occupied with making more money.China today, a country with a declining population (better believe it), has so much money that it has become a state problem.

According to Newsweek, China's foreign reserve continues to rise at roughly $17 billion a month. In fact, it has already pushed the tally over the trillion mark! This situation presents a dangerous imbalance in today's global economy.

The United States is both importing heavily from China and borrowing heavily from the country to finance its purchases, pushing the dollar down and putting the two economic powers on a collision course.

Washington has demanded that Beijing raise the value of the yuan against the dollar; the Chinese hinted that if pushed too hard, they might shift their trillion-dollar reserve out of the US Treasury bonds. This could trigger a global recession.

China is trying to spend down at least some of its trade surplus by investing abroad. Its model is Singapore which spends its own huge trade surplus on things like telecoms, banks and ports.

The problem is it can't do so under the radar, like Singapore, since China is an emerging giant. Back-lash against Chinese acquisition is likely to rear its ugly head. So China continues to park the bulk of its reserve in US Treasury bills, the bonds in which creditors hold most of America's huge public debt.

As for the Philippines, a nation that is 90% Catholic with most living in poverty, reaching the trillion dollar reserve within a decade or two remains a delusion.

The church's strong presence continue to hover over government decisions and influence the choices of most Filipinos with regards to birth control. Most news reports state that this is one major reason for the country's unabated rising population. Of course, an eventual crippling of our economy is a no brainer.

But that is the future; anything can happen between now and next year.

There is still time.

Ironically, according to economists, the church has, so far, not used its vast influence to push viable projects to solve the country's population woes.

As Catholic officials say, the church is concerned with saving souls, not with the intricacies of economics (implying that the state is on its own).