RACE SUICIDE CLOSES UTOPIA

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23362, 30 November 1937, Page 14

RACE SUICIDE CLOSES UTOPIA

Britain's first duty is to realise the painful consequences of the decline in population which is already inevitable (says the London Observer) The characteristic of a falling population, when the fall is due to a low birth rate, is the steady increase in the proportion of the old to the able-bodied population. On present tendencies the number of persons of 65 and over in Britain will increase from 2,856,000 in 1931 to 5 259 000 in 1976, while the total population will fall from 39,988,000 to under 29 000,000. If we take 60 and not 65 as'the normal retiring age for active production, the burden on the producers in this respect will be, roughly, three times in' 1976 what it is to-day, while the taxable and rateable wealth of the country will have fallen by nearly half. Is this the path to Utopia? It is sheer folly to pretend so The number of producers, will be less; the proportion of people who must live on what others produce will be constantly increasing. If we continue to restrict our population we shall be laying an intolerable burden on future generations.