The reversal of the age pyramid from an infants- and young population-heavy bottom takes only 60 years starting from the time artificial contraception is introduced to a country. This is the experience of advanced countries. Today the average age in Scandinavia is 55.
The average Filipino woman today has three children, according to Rina Jimenez David in her Jan. 6, 2015, column (“Population and health”). In 1975, the average Filipino woman had six children.
Proponents of a quicker population decline in our country by sex education and the reclassification of abortifacients, which are prohibited by our Constitution per Article III, Section 12, dream of the golden age in the age pyramid reversal.
The golden age is when the population pyramid bloats in the middle, and the number of productive people far exceeds the old and young dependent population. The volume of contraceptives that need to be sold to make this golden age come true would be mind-boggling considering the bulk of our young population at present. But this golden age lasts for only a decade or two.
Alas, population control is not like a water faucet that the government can adjust at will. In all countries that have pursued this dream earnestly and successfully, the drop in population turned out to be uncontrollable once artificial contraception became widely accepted.
An aging world population is one of the most serious problems of our time, like climate change and destructive technology.
Let us look at our young with hope and responsibility. Instead of giving them contraceptives, let us teach them hard work and self-control. Instead of looking the other way from a strongly perceived razzle-dazzle type of corruption in government, let us be more vigilant so that allocated money will all go to education, healthcare and
urgently-needed infrastructure.
—LELLA M. DE JESUS,
Diocese of Parañaque,
lellamdj@gmail.com