From Publishers Weekly
What starts off as a persuasive statistical analysis dwindles into demagoguery in Wattenberg’s latest demographic exploration. Wattenberg (The Real America; The Birth Dearth), expanding on previous work, offers a detailed breakdown of trends toward global depopulation. The previous population projections, he considers, grossly overestimated peak population numbers, and even current U.N. projections, he says, tend toward the high side. The discrepancies are due to dramatically decreasing fertility rates throughout the world, he argues, making population growth rate much slower than anticipated. He predicts that after peaking in the next decades, the rate will drop sharply. Wattenberg’s book examines these numbers, their causes and their ramifications. Keeping his statistics comprehensible to the demographic novice, he makes a strong case against environmentalist praise of depopulation and skillfully analyzes the economic and social situations that might occur if his predictions play out. However, as Wattenberg surveys the reasons behind declining fertility rates, his arguments take an assertive turn. Wattenberg bemoans abortion, women who put careers before children, homosexuality and co-habitation without marriage—all with little of the statistical analysis that bolsters his initial arguments. Wattenberg himself says, "straightforward demographic numbers can engender mighty arguments," but doesn’t let his own numbers speak for themselves.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Bill Muehlenberg, News Weekly
It's important that good minds pay close attention to these changes. This book is a helpful contribution to that effort.

Marvin Olasky, World
Lucidly show[s] how the once-feared population explosion is giving way to a birth dearth….

Martha Farnsworth Riche, World Watch
Nimble narrative of demographic data…

Senator Joseph Lieberman
…Scholarly, readable and compelling…

Newt Gingrich, Washington Times
…A remarkable book...in terms of its importance for our country and the world….

Detroit Free Press
…An engagingly argued look at what happens when we get what we wish...Wattenberg is the thinker to write it.

Thomas Bray, Detroit News
One of the more interesting books of 2004…

Marshall Fishwick, The Roanoke Times
He has done his homework...in a breezy and provocative style while providing the data to support his concern.

Howard Upton, Tulsa World
Fewer is an extremely informative and provocative book.

First Principles U.S.
…This book is the foundation for long-term global econometric and political thinking.

Book Description
Fewer tells a monumental human story, largely ignored, but which promises to starkly change the human condition in the years to come. Never before have birth and fertility rates fallen so far, so fast, so low, for so long, in so many places. Ben Wattenberg shows how and why this has occurred and explains what it means for the future.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"In countries throughout the world - both modern and less developed -- birthrates and fertility rates are now falling at an astonishing rates. Depopulation is already proceeding in Italy, Germany, and Spain; Russia is losing a million people each year; Japan will begin losing population within a few years. Among the modern nations, only the United States is an exception to the trend." "In Fewer, Ben J. Wattenberg brings his expertise in world and domestic demographics to bear on this momentous but largely unrecognized shift, analyzing its major implications for geopolitics, the environment, the world economy, and the health of regions and nations. The United States, for example, may find itself with weaker allies who have ever-greater proportions of Muslim voters. Europe may not be able to maintain its economic strength without vast numbers of immigrant workers - workers they have resisted allowing into their countries." What Mr. Wattenberg has to say about the impact of declining world population will underline its profound impact on the lives of people everywhere - from the dominance of the elderly and their demands on the resources of their governments, to the enormous potential of China and India, to the relatively privileged position of the United States vis-a-vis the major world powers. In an age already beset by a transformation in world politics, Fewer will help explain current trends as well as sketch the shape of our future.

SYNOPSIS

In developed and developing countries around the world, birth and fertility rates have begun to fall at an astonishing rate unprecedented in human history. In this text for policy makers and the general reader, Wattenberg explores the implications of a declining population for geopolitics, the environment, and the world economy. Wattenberg is a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

FROM THE CRITICS

Howard Upton - Tulsa World

Fewer is an extremely informative and provocative book.

Marshall Fishwick - The Roanoke Times

He has done his homework...in a breezy and provocative style while providing the data to support his concern.

- Newt Gingrich, Washington Times

...A remarkable book...in terms of its importance for our country and the world....

Library Journal

Wattenberg (American Enterprise Inst.), moderator of PBS's Think Tank with Ben Wattenberg, examines the surprising new data collected by the UN Population Division, which show that, contrary to years of projections, the population worldwide will slow its growth, plateau, and begin to fall by 2100. These demographic findings have far-reaching effects in a wide variety of areas, from economics to politics and biology. Wattenberg explores the new projections, explains why they are shaping up, and shows how they will affect all of us. If he had stuck to this purpose, this book would have been a great addition to any library collection. However, about halfway through, Wattenberg sharply digresses, and the text becomes a screed extolling the virtues of the American neoconservative movement. Wattenberg proclaims the greatness of America and its role as a spreader of democracy and decries the ineptness of the UN and other governments, assertions that evidently are supposed to be accepted as general facts. With this obvious ideological slant, he undermines his entire text. Librarians might want to think twice about adding this book to their collections.-Mark Bay, Hagan Memorial Lib., Cumberland Coll., Williamsburg, KY Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

Thomas Bray

One of the more interesting books of 2004... — Detroit News

Tom Baker

Fewer provides valuable food for thought.  — Daily Yomiuri

...An engagingly argued look at what happens when we get what we wish for, and Wattenberg is the thinker to write it. — Detroit Free Press

JEANE KIRKPATRICK

This fascinating book tells us more than anything yet about why we are Fewer.... I strongly recommend it. — FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS AND MEMBER OF REAGAN'S CABINET

JOSEPH CHAMIE

Ben Wattenberg has again brought a vital issue to the public policy debate. — DIRECTOR, POPULATION DIVISION, DESA, UNITED NATIONS

FRANCIS FUKUYAMA

There is no better analyst to guide us through the complex political, social, and economic implications of this development than Ben Wattenberg. — PROFESSOR OF INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL ECONOMY, THE SCHOOL OF ADVANCED INTERNATIONAL STUDIES, JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY

...Scholarly, readable and compelling... — SENATOR JOSEPH LIEBERMAN

First Principles U.S.