A study of demographic trends in Europe’s far North—called State of the Nordic Region 2020—indicates that Nordic nations currently have falling birth rates, with one notable exception being the Faroe Islands, a Danish semi-autonomous archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean.1,2
At 2.5 births per woman, the Faroe Islands have the highest fertility rates in the Nordic Region. For a population to replace itself in the long run, a total fertility rate of about 2.1 children per woman is necessary, and the Faroe Islands are the only part of the Nordic Region that remains above this level. In general, fertility rates have been decreasing all across the Nordic Region, and quite rapidly in some areas. In Iceland, Norway and Finland, the current birth rates are the lowest ever recorded.3
The study is sponsored by the Nordic Council of Ministers, a cooperative agency representing five nations: Norway (including Svalbard), Denmark (including Greenland and the Faroe Islands), Sweden, Finland, and Iceland.1,2
The study was called “Births, Children, and Young People.” It analyzed birth rate, aging, and population growth statistics, illustrating changing societal priorities in many nations where the Genesis Mandate of being fruitful, multiplying, and filling the earth is passively ignored or actively rejected.2,5
Ironically, exceptions to the low-birth-rate trends are found among the Faroese and the Sami (formerly known as “Lapplanders”). Both of these special populations have unique histories featuring Bible-believing evangelical Christian cultures.2,6
But birth rates, aging, and human population growth have been topics of interest to many generations before now. These included the eugenics-oriented influence of Malthusian doomsaying (which influenced Charles Darwin’s death-driven notion of “survival of the fittest”) and, more recently, the Zero Population Growth movement promoted for more than a half-century now.5,7
And protests are getting louder against humans who are fruitful, multiply, and fill various parts of our planet.8 Many are blaming climate change on the increasing human population.
However, my belief is that while climate change is a crisis, all of the focus on it misses the more than 7 billion gorillas in the room—the exploding human population.4
Accordingly, nowadays human birth rates (and human population growth) have been deemed more serious than the supposed threat of global warming.
All of this is to say that the real threat to butterflies, all of the other animals and plants on the planet, and to the human beings as well, is the continued growth of the human population. Rather than focusing on climate change, we need to find ways to slow, and reverse, the growth of the human population. Of course this will be extremely difficult, and painful.4
So Glassberg regards the human race are just pawns in a Ponzi scheme.
Having spent hundreds of years fostering an economic Ponzi scheme—an economy that only works when we continually recruit new people into the system—we will need to find ways to deal with the daunting economics of declining [human population] growth.4
Bible-believing Christians should fear neither of the two fake threats mentioned by evolutionist Jeffrey Glassberg, because:
(a) It never makes sense to fear the results of obey God’s commandments, including His Genesis Mandate and His Great Commission.
(b) It never makes sense to fear that God will abandon His promises to manage Earth’s climates and seasons.
(b) It never makes sense to fear that God will abandon His promises to manage Earth’s climates and seasons.
Meanwhile, we humans continue to produce carbon dioxide—that is so needful to all oxygen-producing plant-life8—as we do our parts to “fill the earth.”5
Stage image: A child riding a bike in the Nordic Region.
Stage image credit: Yadid Levy. Copyright © 2020. Adapted for use in accordance with federal copyright (fair use doctrine) law. Usage by ICR does not imply endorsement of copyright holders.
References
1. “’We're moving towards a China-like situation but without any sort of one-child policy,’ explains senior research fellow at Nordregio, the Nordic Council of Ministers' research centre for regional development and planning, Anna Karlsdóttir.” Staff writer. 2020. Record-low birth rates in three Nordic countries. EU Observer. Posted on euobserver.com February 5, 2020, accessed June 8, 2020.
2. “For Iceland, Norway, and Finland, the current fertility rates are the lowest ever recorded. … While the fertility rate is declining in all countries in the Nordic Region except the Faroe Islands, … immigrants are making an important contribution to the young population in more rural and remote areas … [especially] in Sweden and parts of rural Norway.” Karlsdóttir, A., T. Heleniak, and M. Kull. 2020. Chapter 2: State of the Nordic Region 2020: Births, Children, and Young People. Nordic Council of Ministers. Posted on pub.Norden.org, accessed June 7, 2020. The report also noted Samis as exceptional, besides the Faroese: “A higher number of births than elsewhere in the region can be seen in some Swedish regions, for example in North East Norrbotten, in the Sami communities.” Greenland has flat-lined: “Even Greenland, which has usually been well above replacement level, has seen a decline from 2.5 births per woman in 2000 to 2.0 today. The only part of the Nordic Region that currently has a fertility rate above replacement level is the Faroe Islands at 2.5 children per woman.”
3. “The Faroe Islands have the highest employment rate in the Nordic Region and are highlighted as the only Nordic population with fertility rates exceeding replacement levels. The Faroe Islands have advanced 7 spots in the Regional Potential Index and have seen an increase in bioeconomy jobs above Nordic average.” Finnsson, P. T. 2020. Faroe Islands: Strong Labour Market and High Fertility Rates in the Faroe Islands. Nordregio Magazine. Posted on nordregio.org, accessed June 7, 2020.
4. “If you … care about butterflies and the future of the planet, let’s start spreading the word about the real cause of our problems.” Glassberg, J. 2017. Planet Change. American Butterflies. 25(1): 2.
5. Regarding the Genesis Mandate’s post-Flood renewal, see Genesis 9:1-7. ICR has previously reported on birth rates, population replacement, and immigration-based population growth. See Johnson, J. J. S. 2020. Scottish Population Movements and the Genesis Mandate. Creation Science Update. Posted on ICR.org May 15, 2020, accessed June 8, 2020.
6. Thomas von Westen, a Pietistic Lutheran missionary, was nicknamed “apostle to the Sami.” In the Faroe Islands, for more than a century, the Plymouth Brethren and Faroese Evangelical Lutheran Church have been most active for generations.
7. Guliuzza, R. J. 2020. Survival of the Fittest and Evolution’s Death Culture. Acts & Facts. 49(1): 17-19. See also Morris, H. M. 1975. Evolution and the Population Problem. Acts & Facts. 4(1).
8. Genesis 8:22. See also Hebert, J. Is Climate Change Activism a Religion? Creation Science Update. Posted on ICR.org November 19, 2019, accessed June 8, 2020.
*Dr. Johnson is Associate Professor of Apologetics and Chief Academic Officer at the Institute for Creation Research.
