DVD ReviewDemographicWinter.jpg

Demographic Winter

“Never in history have we had economic prosperity accompanied by depopulation”

“There won’t be enough people to run the trains and pay the taxes.”

“Now we have forty years of evidence that the deterioration of marriage, the encouragement of sexuality outside of marriage is just not good for society, nor the children, nor men.”

“On every measure ever measured by the social sciences, the intact married family is the strongest on outcome on every measure measured.”

I have just viewed the Demographic Winter DVD. The quotes above, all from highly qualified academic observers including a Nobel laureate, all of which you can hear for yourself by watching the trailer on the website, are soberingly supported by the whole presentation. It would appear that world depopulation trends are taking us toward difficult times.

“There’s not much quibble, there’s not much controversy, among people in the know.”

World population growth is leveling off. We are not birthing enough children to replace ourselves as we age and die. The health revolution hides this trend for now: increased lifespans mean that total population is not falling yet. It is aging instead. The social and economic results appear dangerous if not catastrophic.

“More imminent than global warming, and at least as severe.”

The NY Times Magazine, in an article published Sunday, concurs that there is a significant problem growing here.

Why is this happening? The researchers and producers involved in this film identify five primary factors:

  • Inaccurate assumptions, especially in regard to the “population bomb” (Paul Ehrlich’s 1968 book)
  • Prosperity
  • Women working
  • The sexual revolution
  • The divorce revolution

It almost looks like a list drawn from a Christian family foundation’s talking points (though prosperity in itself is hardly ever considered an evil, it is the self-focus that can often accompany it that contributes to this problem). Phil Longman, one of the researchers most featured in the film (who said “there’s not much quibble…”), emphasizes that he is not speaking from a faith perspective but a research perspective. Others insist that the researchers most in touch with the actual data on social and family trends are in near-total agreement that the family matters.

Could it be that James Dobson and Dennis Rainey have been right all along?

Order the DVD and decide for yourself.