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Weaponising population growth is a dangerous and regressive road

Countries that are losing demographic ground may fall back on old tricks to force women to bear children.

Around the world, the race is on to secure demographic dividends before falling birth rates drag on economic growth.

PHOTO: EPA-EFE

Camilla Cavendish

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The news last week that

India’s population is forecast to overtake that of China’s

is a powerful psychological moment. Not for three centuries, since the Mughal Empire outnumbered the Qing Dynasty, has India been bigger than its rival.

The Chinese Communist Party fears that China, whose population is

undergoing a rapid contraction

, may get old before it gets rich. Western fears of stagnation are leading to anguished debates about immigration and calls for “pronatalist” policies. But governments everywhere should resist the temptation to weaponise population.

Weaponising population growth is a dangerous and regressive road

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