A survey by a condom maker has found New Zealand women to be the most promiscuous in the world.  Not the most flattering thing to be leading the world in.  The survey found that New Zealand women had 20.3 sexual partners on average.  Another long-running Otago multi-disciplinary study finds that half the female participants had 8 or fewer partners by age 32, but that a smaller group of highly active women push up the average.  The New Zealand Herald reports:

Many young women are being sexually promiscuous because they feel a need to compete with men.  That’s the view of sex therapist Mary Hodson who is seeing “heaps of hurt young women” who have had numerous partners – many of whom they don’t know very well...Mrs Hodson, co-owner and director of Sex Therapy… click here to read whole article and make comments

The following is the second speech given by Don Feder to the Moscow Demography Summit. It is entitled: “Malthus, Ehrlich, Gore And Other Population Mystics”. It can also be found at grasstopsusa.com.

Something that happened to me a few years ago may throw light on the popular mindset regarding what’s called overpopulation.

I was standing in the middle of Ronald Reagan/National Airport in Washington, D.C. talking on my cell phone about demographic winter (the precipitous worldwide decline in birthrates). When the call was over, I was accosted by a middle-aged woman with a scowl on her face who told me emphatically: “Well, if families are having fewer children, that’s a good thing. There are too many people in the world.”

“If there… click here to read whole article and make comments

The following is a speech given by Don Feder to the Moscow Demography Summit. It is entitled: “Finding Our Way Out Of The Forest - Faith, Family And Fecundity”. It can also be found at grasstopsusa.com.

Imagine that you’re walking in the forest. There’s a layer of fresh snow on the ground. Suddenly you realize that you’re lost. You’re cold. You’re tired. You’re hungry. If that weren’t enough, there are wolves howling in the distance. This is beginning to sound like a Russian novel.

What do you do? The easiest course is to retrace your footsteps, to return the way you came. So it is with demographic winter. To get out of the cold, bleak, barren landscape where we find ourselves, we need to retrace our steps, in other words, to reject the ideas and… click here to read whole article and make comments

Germany and China, the leading economies in their respective continents - Europe and Asia – share eerily similar demographic and economic outlooks.  A decline in future working generations and a corresponding increase in the number of economically dependent retirees are problems that are looking like they will cause future economic problems for both of these economic powerhouses.

In China, the country is about to undergo a demographic shift. The share of the population over the age of 60 is rising rapidly – that share will rise from 12.5% in 2010 to 20% in 2020 according to the Economist.  The absolute number of those over 60 will double by 2030 from the 178 million today.  At the other end of life, the number of primary-school enrolments has dropped from 25.3 million in 1995 to 16.7 million in 2008.  This… click here to read whole article and make comments

At the same time that the demography summit was wrapping up in Moscow and preparing its final declaration,  lawmakers in the lower house of the Russian Parliament were voting on a bill that would require 10% of all of the space used in ads for abortion clinics and services to “carry a list of possible negative consequences for women, including infertility.”  The bill would also restrict advertisers (mostly operating in newspapers and classified sections) from saying that abortions are “safe”.

The bill had its third reading last Friday (Moscow time) and was passed by the State Duma deputies. It is expected that the bill will pass the upper house and be signed into law by Russia’s President, Dmitry Medvedev, without any further issues. (Interestingly, Medvedev’s wife, Svetlana is a strong advocate of the pro-life movement… click here to read whole article and make comments

From the time Cleopatra endured a fatal snake bite, suicide has been one of those incomprehensible things that seems to go against our normal instinct to survive as human beings.  Suicide rates reflect a range of social breakdowns and the loss of supportive guidelines that give an individual a sense of family, community, purpose and meaning. 

In 2007 New Zealand had the second highest suicide rate among male youth aged 15–24 years (after Finland), and the second highest female youth suicide rate (after Japan) in the OECD.  Columnist Garth George commented last week on initiatives among youth in New Zealand to try to take ownership of the problem and to help their friends.  Proposals to deal with suicide, particularly among the young, have lately received widespread coverage in reports presented to the Prime Minister… click here to read whole article and make comments

Participants from 65 countries at the Moscow demographic summit have reaffirmed the natural family as “the basic unit of society and the fundamental social value, that is a necessary prerequisite for the very existence of world civilizations and the whole humankind.” A final declaration of the two-day gathering sates:

The Natural Family is a necessary condition with no alternatives for survival and stable sustainable development of all nations and states, basic and integral condition for the demographic well‐being.

It dismisses concerns about “overpopulation” and expresses “deep concern” about population decline around the world.

Even according to conservative estimates by the UN, within next three decades, the total fertility rate will go down below the population replacement level all over the world. In reality, it can happen much earlier, thus making the… click here to read whole article and make comments

Not long now until the start of the Moscow Demographic Summit organised by the World Congress of Families. The congress begins at 9am Wednesday June 29 (Moscow time) and runs for two days. Looking at the schedule those two days look to be very busy for the delegates and participants!

Interesting topics include:

In a world where individual freedom to do whatever feels good is the paramount virtue, this summit will hopefully offer a counter-voice -- a voice that… click here to read whole article and make comments

The Moscow Demographic Summit organised by the World Congress of Families begins Wednesday and this blog will be updating you regularly with posts direct from the event. To kick off, here is today's press release from Larry Jacobs, ECF's Managing Director:

The Russian Duma has officially welcomed delegates to the “Moscow Demographic Summit: The Family and the Future of Humankind,” which opens on June 29 at the Russian State Social University.

The letter of support is dated June 22, 2011 and signed by Ye. B. Mizulina (Elena Mizulina, pictured), chairwoman of the Duma’s Committee on Family, Women and Children Affairs.  It reads:

“Dear Participants of the Moscow Demographic Summit,

We welcome you with all our hearts, we wish success to the work of the Moscow Demographic Summit: Family and the Future of Humankind,… click here to read whole article and make comments

Are too many old people in Italy causing discrimination against young people? It seems the young can't even get a foot in the door to the Italian mafia because all the top spots are taken by men going strong at 80. Not surprisingly, they are also finding it increasingly difficult to climb the corporate ladder.  The Economist reports:

Politics is the most visible one. The average age on taking office of Italy's 11 prime ministers since 1990 was 62. Mr Berlusconi, the current incumbent, is 74. Cesare Geronzi, one of the great power-brokers in Italian business, was 76 when he was forced out as chairman of Generali, Italy’s biggest insurer, in April. His predecessor, Antoine Bernheim, left at 85. Journalism is little better: the same ageing columnists keep filling the op-ed pages in Italy’s… click here to read whole article and make comments