The end of Europe as we knew it?

terribly early in the morning on Tuesday, the 12th of June 2007 by Katie

A couple of news items this week drew my attention to the disappearance of Europe as we knew it. The most surprising news item of the week was the idea that Mohammed will now replace Thomas as Britain’s second most popular baby name. And next year, it will probably become the most popular name, period.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1890354.ece

Now, I know that I’m opening myself up to being called a racist pig, but Mohammed does not strike me as a particularly British name.

Another interesting item I found was some recent birth rate tables

http://hdr.undp.org/statistics/data/indic/indic_49_1_1.html

Now, when you look at the tables, keep in mind that in order for a population to replace itself, it needs a birth rate of 2.1 children per woman. The next interesting fact is that no civilization / culture has survived with a birth rate less than 1.1.

So, at a rough glance, basically most or all of the countries in Europe are not producing enough children to replace themselves. Yes, I can hear the cheers now from the 0 population growth proponents. But, before you guys lose your voice cheering, look towards the bottom of the table. Does it strike anyone else as odd that some of the countries who seem least able to support themselves have an extremely large birth rate, especially when compared to the rest? Looks to me as though Islam could take over Europe in the next generation based on birth rates alone.

Another interesting, yet lonely, interpretation is that most Europeans in the next generation will grow up without brothers or sisters, aunts or uncles, nieces or nephews. Without traditional familial support systems, who will they turn to in their hours of need?

And shouldn’t a country want to preserve it’s cultural identity? Shouldn’t it want its traditions and people to survive? The special things that makes British British? Italians Italian? Germans….