Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called on European governments to refrain from interfering in the problems with the birth rate and to abandon programs to stimulate it.
According to him, the declining birth rate is not a crisis, but on the contrary, it can be a positive global trend.
He noted that many countries - from Europe to Asia - are experiencing a decline in birth rates, but he considers this to be part of the natural “self-regulation” of population size. In Britain, once the fastest-growing country in Europe, deaths will outnumber births this year for the first time since the mid-1970s, Johnson wrote.
“This is not a demographic crash. It is the first sign that the long and environmentally destructive baby boom may be coming to an end. Rather than wasting time and money fighting this trend, politicians should recognise – and explain – its enormous potential for further expansion“, the former prime minister said.
He criticised politicians' calls for a higher birth rate as ineffective. In his view, “the last thing we need is a flood of nonsense from politicians about having more children“.
Johnson also pointed out the contradiction in the arguments of those who advocate population growth in the face of technological progress. The former British prime minister said that one cannot simultaneously complain that artificial intelligence is making humans obsolete while demanding “more people”.
He believes that if artificial intelligence does replace some workers, the need for population growth will decrease. And he said that decisions about having children should remain a personal choice, not a matter of government policy. “Their job is not to indulge in ridiculous “Mussolini on reproduction” rhetoric,“ he wrote in his column.
Instead, Johnson believes, governments should focus on developing the economy, infrastructure and improving the quality of life.
The former British prime minister himself has nine children. Four of the children were born in Johnson's marriage to lawyer Marina Wheeler. They were married for 25 years, until 2018. In 2009, the politician had an illegitimate daughter with historian Helen McIntyre. Boris Johnson has four children in his current marriage to Carrie Symonds, whom he married in 2021. The couple's youngest child was born in May last year.