Paul Ehrlich's 'Population Bomb' never went off but did great harm

Famed biologist and author Paul Ehrlich predicted disaster from overpopulation
But today the challenge is declining fertility, with governments in Asia and Europe seeking ways to boost births to maintain economic and social stability
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If during his last days American biologist Paul Ehrlich had followed events in Singapore, he would have heard something remarkable
Fertility fell to a record low last year, confounding efforts to shore it up
Politicians described the development as an existential challenge.Ehrlich, who saw population control as vital to humanity’s viability amid a deteriorating environment, was proven wrong
Not only is humankind doing pretty well, leaders in some of the most successful economies want the opposite of what the Stanford University professor prescribed: more babies
China, South Korea, Japan and many European nations are wrestling with ultralow birthrates and shrinking labor markets
Combined with the swelling ranks of seniors, these forces promise to reshape workplaces, tax systems, immigration and defense.This isn't the world that Ehrlich, who died on March 13, envisaged when he published "The Population Bomb" in 1968
The book was a smash hit and the author's frequent appearances at conferences and on television did much to propagate the idea that many of the world's most pressing difficulties could be addressed by clamping down hard on headcount
It might even be too late, he wrote, to avoid apocalyptic outcomes: mass famine, plagues, world wars resulting from food shortages and pollution so severe that it would be a battle to survive.

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