The one megatrend that changes everything. And it's not AI.

Birth rates are falling.

In 1950, the average global fertility rate was 4.9 births per woman. The world was growing exponentially. In 1968, The Population Bomb predicted that we would outstrip the earth’s resources and that mass famine and war would follow.

The world reacted. Governments ran public service campaigns encouraging people to have fewer children. Contraception was encouraged to limit unwanted births. And as societies developed, families came to need two incomes to support their lifestyles. Having and raising children became a lower priority.

It takes 2.1 children per woman to sustain a population over time. Above that line, a population grows. Below it, it shrinks unless there is meaningful immigration.

Today, women around the world are having, on average, 2.3 children. By the end of the century, the UN projects the global fertility rate will fall to 1.8. The world is now barely above the line, and heading below it.

The consequences are already visible. The UN projects that the global population will grow from 8.1 billion today to a peak of about 10.2 billion in 2084. Then begin to decline. Today, more than half of all countries are now below replacement fertility, and 63 are already shrinking. (Source: UN, World Population Prospects 2024, medium variant.)

Population decline carries ramifications that are significant and widespread. It will produce a rapidly aging society. It will challenge the economic assumptions that drive how the world works. And it will place pressure on governments and families who will need to care for a growing senior population.

In Genesis, God commanded Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply (Genesis 1:28). That was a mandate. Not a punchline.

Christians have both a responsibility and an opportunity to demonstrate to the world the inherent value of family formation. Over the next decades, we need to lead a movement encouraging Christians and others, encouraging the world to have more children.

Some strategic questions to consider as you lead your churches, ministries, businesses, and families:

• How are you teaching the value of family formation to the next generation?

• How do we change our attitudes toward large families? How do we celebrate those who choose to have four, five, or more children?

• Do your organization’s policies encourage people to have children, or do they simply copy what the market provides?

Download the first chapter of Future-Perfect for free at: srobertyi.com/fpi