German Extinction?

Everyone in Germany knows the rabenmutter. The word, which translates as "raven mother," describes the kind of woman who is so unloving, so selfish that she heartlessly places her toddler in day care so she can go back to work. . .the idea of leaving one's child in the care of someone who doesn't necessarily love the child, of paying a stranger to do a mother's job, just doesn't sit right with many conservative Germans. . .The rabenmutter complex helps explain why Germany has had Europe's lowest birthrate for the past three decades. . .Since the mid-1960s, each new generation of Germans has been a third smaller than that of its parents. If the trend continues, Germany's population will shrink from 83 million today to about 79 million in 2050. . .At the same time, the number of retirees is ballooning. By 2020, 30% of the German population will be 60 or older. The ratio of workers paying into the pension system and those receiving a pension is now 2-1; in a decade it will be 1-1.

"What is happening when an entire continent -- wealthier and healthier than ever before -- declines to create the human future ... by creating a next generation?" asked George Weigel in an essay on the decline of religious practice in Europe. Weigel, an American theologian, answered his question by suggesting that there is a direct link between Europe's loss of faith and the loss of its desire to reproduce itself.

Steffen Kroehnert, who studies demographic trends at the Berlin Institute for Population and Development, notes that France and the Scandinavian countries, generally regarded as among the least religious in Europe, are also the ones with relatively healthy fertility rates. France has a fertility rate of 1.9; Norway's is 1.8.
What Kroehnert and other experts are discovering is that European couples want to have babies, but they are inhibited mainly by work-related economic factors. . .

Compared with other European nations, Germany spends generously on pro-family programs, but the results have been disappointing. France spends less but gets much better results. One explanation is that in France, educated women are expected to pursue their careers even after they have children and the government makes it possible by funding extensive day-care facilities. Last month, Angela Merkel, Germany's first female chancellor, unveiled a package of changes aimed at making it easier for working women to raise children. Under the changes, women will receive two-thirds of their salary for up to a year if they take time off after birth. The ceiling is $2,300 a month; if a woman is earning less than $1,275 a month, she gets her entire salary. Men will be eligible for 2 months of paid leave under the same terms, or a couple can split the 14-month total any way they please. (August 3, 2006; Chicago Tribune)