A few weeks ago Marcus commented on Russia’s enthusiasm for the coming of what is believed to be the belt of the Virgin Mary.   Normally situated at the Vatopedi Monastery on Mount Athos in Greece, the relic made of camel wool is believed to have the power to boost fertility.  The National Post reports yesterday that the Russian people really have come out in force!  Braving cold and snow, Moscow residents were willing to stand in a 5km line just to touch the belt:

The Moscow authorities said 400,000 people had waited outside Moscow’s vast Cathedral of Christ the Saviour since The Belt of the Virgin Mary relic arrived on Saturday. Around 82,000 were queuing on Thursday alone...

Faced with the lines, the Russian Orthodox Church extended the relic’s stay in Moscow by three days to Sunday.  An intercom… click here to read whole article and make comments

Good afternoon everyone! After last week’s post about Russia’s demographic decline, I thought that I’d share with you a short, little, easy-to-digest video from the Population Research Institute about the total fertility rate, and why modern, western society needs about 2.1 children per woman to reproduce themselves.  Enjoy!

Over the course of 2011, this blog has from time to time drawn attention to the demographic malaise affecting Russia.  Shannon blogged back in April on the lack of men in that country and how alcohol addiction has played a large part in that problem.  Indeed, the decline in Russian population since the fall of the Iron Curtain has been simply remarkable and unprecedented – it was not without reason that the first international demographic summit was held in Moscow in June this year.  The Russian political leaders have tried to reverse their declining population, including turning to the Virgin Mary for help.

Now, in the latest issue of Foreign Affairs magazine, a world renowned demographer, Nicholas Eberstadt, has published a very informative article about Russia, entitled “The Dying Bear” (as you can imagine from the title, he does not… click here to read whole article and make comments

It was getting dire for the small towns of Middle America.  Their populations were falling so low that businesses were being boarded up, schools closed and ghost towns were emerging.  More and more people left each year and fewer were born than buried. 

However, the New York Times reports that recently a new trend has breathed life into the region – more and more Hispanic settlers.  Mexican grocery stores are opening behind shuttered storefronts and the schools are being filled with Spanish speaking children.  It has even fallen to the Hispanic population to try to keep the region’s popular American culture alive by serving burgers and fries alongside tacos and burritos, 

Predictably, not everyone is happy by the cultural shift, feeling that the way of life and the traditional culture of the region is being whittled away.

Some longtime residents of Ulysses,… click here to read whole article and make comments

Today I thought that I’d share with you a piece from Pakistan - a developing country that could be in line to have a photo of its babies accompany doomsday media pieces announcing massive population increases in the world (see the blog earlier this week for an explanation of what I’m talking about).  Writing in the Pakistan Observer, Khalid Saleem discusses the implications of living in a world of seven billion people and why one can be sceptical of the ‘population control’ meme coming from certain organisations (generally in the West).  Saleem’s argument can perhaps stand as a small antidote to the Western-focussed debate on demography. 

“The world was authoritatively informed that controlling ‘population’ was the sine qua non of economic progress. In simple terms, any nation that that desired to move up the economic ladder was ‘advised’… click here to read whole article and make comments

Nothing much from me today - instead, for all of you who are more visual learners, here's a video! This is on the beneficial effect that population has on poverty and was produced by the Population Research Institute.  (You can also see another one of their videos in this earlier DID post.) Enjoy!

As we’ve hit (or are about to, or did so a while ago, or something...) the seven billion person mark, the tone in the media has palpably been one of fear, unease and impending doom.  The underlying (or sometimes not so underlying) thought process seems to be: “seven billion people do make an awfully large crowd, and the world really can’t support such numbers – we need to do something about it.”  We’ve discussed before that doing “something” usually means trying to stop others from having babies, after all, we in the West (and Japan etc) aren’t contributing to population growth – we’re not even replacing ourselves! No, it’s others (particularly Africans) who need to stop breeding, they can’t even feed themselves! If only they were as educated as we were they wouldn’t have so many babies and they’d realise the joys of… click here to read whole article and make comments

The view that over-consumption and pollution by the rich is the real problem, not over-population, seems to be beginning to take root.  The Guardian’s Andrew Simms makes some interesting comments on inequality, seemingly arguing that there should be more re-distribution of wealth from the rich to the poor to avoid so much over-consumption.  Simms comments:

Andrew Haldane at the Bank of England estimates that the ratio of CEO pay at the biggest seven banks compared to the national median wage in the US was 100:1 in 1989 and rose to 500:1 in 2007.

I am certainly an advocate for letting the market work and providing appropriate incentives for people to work hard, because it is often these people creating jobs – however, there certainly must be a threshold where a level of pay becomes out of step with the work actually… click here to read whole article and make comments

In less than a month, New Zealand will go to the polls in a national election. These happen every three years and the weeks leading up to them are filled with almost daily polls, more politicians at photo shoots and every spare lawn, fence and road side filled with coloured signs telling you to vote for one party or another. (I’ve never understood the benefit of these signs, which undecided voter would ever be swayed by them? “Oh look dear, there’s the five hundredth “Vote National/Labour” sign we’ve passed on this ten kilometre drive, I suppose we should vote for National/Labour then.” I mean, who does it appeal to?) 

Aside from all these doings, we also see lots of policy announcements.  One that has garnered some attention here over the past few days has been the superannuation policy of the Labour Party – the current… click here to read whole article and make comments

Wow, so I (and the rest of the country) have had a week to recover from the massive scare that we all got on Sunday night.  New Zealand hung onto a one point lead until the end to win the 2011 Rugby World Cup Final against France.  The result was greeted mainly with relief, we have seen the French knock New Zealand out of the 1999 and 2007 World Cups already, so we all knew that they had form when it comes to spoiling an All Blacks party!! So well done France and New Zealand for a fantastically gripping final and well done to the organisers for a brilliantly managed tournament.

So, what do I do with my life now?  I suppose the only thing to keep me occupied now is Detroit. Yes, Detroit. Incredibly, the latest US Census shows that in the last… click here to read whole article and make comments