Can population rise be restrained? I am thinking that the current economic ideology does not like to accommodate it... As we read in this morning's Salon:
Fran:

In a survey of life in the 27 European Union countries, the Institute for Family Policy said that pensioners now outnumbered teenagers, and more people were living alone.

The report, The Evolution of the Family in Europe 2008, which was unveiled in the European Parliament in Brussels, described the European birth rate as "critical".

Thus it seems, the rich bits of the world cannot handle a decreasing population, because this would mean more old, unproductive people in relation to the younger, productive human resources. Then how will we have growth, which as we know is important beyond all other factors? The aging of Europe is so often mentioned in economic type articles in the press, and used as yet another indication of the failure of Europe. However, if global population size is of concern, the rich bits of the world will really have to figure out how to operate their economies with a diminishing productive population. Given how productivity has risen over the last N year, I don't see why this should be at all a problem. Unless one is a growth happy ideologist for whom the only legitimate use of productivity growth is increasing output of available goods, services, and 'wealth'. The ones that point to the need of restraining population growth and a bit later bemoans the aging Europe, unwilling to breed enough of the next generation, are really just asking the poor, brown inhabitants of the planet to stop breeding, please.