What Is Too Many?

The Salisbury Forum will tackle a controversial topic Friday, December 12th when it tackles the topic of how many people are too many for global health.
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Dr Dean Spears and Dr Michael Geruso, co-authors of After the Spike: Population, Progress and the Case for People, will speak about the implications of declining birth rates globally due to rising education levels, greater labor force participation by women, strengthened reproductive rights and wider access to contraception.

They contend that the continued decrease in birth rates around the world imperils the future of the human species. Global fertility—the number of babies a woman is expected to have over her lifetime—averaged 2.25 last year; the United Nations estimates, the lowest in recorded history, barely above the replacement rate of 2.1 that keeps population stable. The authors note that depopulation will continue as long as the replacement rate goes below two. At present two-thirds of the worlds’ population lives in countries with fertility rates below two.

Spears is a founding executive director of r.i.c.e, a nonprofit that works to promote children’s health in rural India. Geruso served as a senior economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisers from 2023 to 2024 where he advised on healthcare and population change. Both are economists, demographers and associate professors at the University of Texas at Austin.

The program will be presented at 7PM at Housatonic Valley Regional High School, 246 Warren Turnpike Road in Falls Village. To register, click here