SPA responds to news on Australia's fertility
Sustainable Population Australia (SPA) has welcomed news that Australia's fertility has fallen to 1.5 children per woman, dismissing media claims it represents an economic crisis.". Australian National University demographer Liz Allen said on ABC radio, "Once we hit this figure, we are basically staring down the barrel of no return."
SPA national president Peter Strachan says such catastrophism is completely unwarranted.
"Europe's fertility has averaged around 1.5 for decades now, with very low population growth, and most EU nations have performed better than Australia on per capita measures of economic performance," says Mr Strachan.
"A lower Australian fertility rate means that the sustainable level of immigration might be slightly higher. With fertility at 1.5 we can receive 90,000 net migrants per year to maintain a stable population, compared with only 75,000 net migrants when fertility is 1.6.
"However, recent government policy has meant net migration was running six or seven times too high, at over half a million a year.
