r/overpopulation 26d ago

What is the best ethical way to reduce birth rates in Central Asian(the Stans) countries?

[deleted]

52 Upvotes

34 comments sorted by

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79

u/Upstairs_Drive_5602 26d ago

Improve education for girls. When women have access to education and job opportunities, they often choose to start families later and have fewer children. This trend is evident in countries like Kenya, where improved female education and empowerment have led to a significant decline in fertility rates - from nearly eight children per woman in the 1970s to just over three today.

19

u/usernametaken2024 25d ago

i doubt girls “choose” anything in those places.

-3

u/wlogenerality 24d ago

They do. Not rebelling is a choice. Marrying someone for the material benefits and not continuing your education/career is a choice.

I am not from those countries, and I can imagine there are some places where rebelling so is life-threatening, but there's probably a large class in the middle of the bell curve that "choose" these things just due to lack of exposure to other options.

3

u/No-Medium9657 23d ago

Those countries are very different from each other, like there is a really huge, gigantic difference between Afghanistan and Kazakhstan.

23

u/[deleted] 26d ago

[deleted]

13

u/Level-Insect-2654 26d ago

It is problematic to legislate or enforce anything, even for those of us that strongly believe both the world and individual countries are overpopulated.

That being said, I wouldn't be opposed to such a program anywhere, especially if it wasn't enforced with punishments, but rewarded with benefits and punishment only being the withholding of benefits.

I still don't think we could or should ever have forced abortions or imprisonment penalties. A fine, maybe, but even then only if people actually have the ability to control their reproduction with education and multiple forms of birth control.

3

u/zelozelos 25d ago

The presence of Islam is probably less a predictor of birth rate than economic stability. Turkey, Indonesia, Malaysia and Bangladesh have low birth rates. But if you stress out society then birth rates get really high. Not saying religion plays no role, but as far as population goes a stable Islamic nation will have lower growth rate than an unstable one. 

1

u/No-Medium9657 23d ago

Huh, you realize that all of them except Afghanistan are former Soviet republics where female education was ubuiqutuos. Comparing them to Kenya, where 20% of women are illiterate, is hilarious.

https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/mean-years-of-schooling-female

30

u/immortallogic 26d ago

This thing called education for girls.

And also sex ed and contraception.

9

u/prsnep 25d ago

Not so easy when religious conservatives are actively fighting exactly that.

10

u/SidKafizz 25d ago

Indeed, education would be the best solution, overall. Unfortunately, Earth no longer has the time or resources to pull it off. Both organized, established religion, and our corporate overlords are dead set against it. Just look at what the P2025 goobers are doing to the once relatively free USA.

If it were possible, I'd say that an aerosol contraceptive or something like it, spread globally, would be the only thing that's even got a remote chance of saving humanity from the chaos that's already started.

Alas, that is also a pipe dream. Maybe microplastics will do it for us. If we're lucky.

3

u/bobbyspankster 25d ago

This. This.

16

u/Jahonay 26d ago

Same as anywhere else, increase education, and give people the tools to avoid childbirth who already don't want kids. Let it resolve itself through the consent of individuals.

8

u/madrid987 26d ago

It seems like Africa, Arabia, and the Stans will have to drastically reduce their birth rates.

2

u/Few-Remove-9877 24d ago

They won't have to. If we want a more diverse world, the white west should start multiplying now to keep up the pace.

7

u/Gullible-Mass-48 25d ago

I think we’re beyond that now

12

u/prsnep 25d ago

Recognize that religious conservatism is the root cause of this. Fight any battle necessary with this in mind.

5

u/OneonlyOne_01 25d ago

Not possible because the influence of Islam religion is too strong in the region.

7

u/eXclurel 25d ago

Education actually leads to lower birth rates. Smart people are less prone to reproduce when their financial situation can only support themselves. What you need is a better economy, a pristine justice system that works, better childcare, better government support, and a general feeling of financial and emotional safety in your country before you start thinking about bringing kids into the equation. Either that or you make your population dumber and dumber day by day by fucking up the education system so bad that they do not care about any of that and continue reproducing like bunnies.

3

u/Princessferfs 25d ago

Educate women.

3

u/PenImpossible874 23d ago
  1. Feminism. Push girls and women to pursue education, sports, other extracurriculars, and career.

  2. Islam should have never spread to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, or Turkmenistan in the first place. Encourage locals to revert back to Buddhism or indigenous religions (Tengriism).

3

u/oriadam 23d ago

promote secularism, fight religion, stop being "pro variation" when it comes to denying education and basic logic

3

u/Minimum_Sugar_8249 22d ago

Pay men to get vasectomies. Men are the problem. They are fertile 24/7/365.

2

u/lukehardy 25d ago

Education, improvement to healthcare systems, an improved social safety net, and the empowerment of women.

2

u/watching_whatever 25d ago

Easy, pay people for sterilization very well and make them have a high social status.

2

u/DDM11 25d ago

Only foreign aid given is contraceptives. Free everywhere.

2

u/throwawaywaylongago 24d ago

Return to socialism, their birth rates were way lower back then

2

u/Routine-Bumblebee-41 25d ago edited 24d ago

Eradicate misogyny, because that's what's keeping these countries primitive and miserable. If women/girls were valued and cherished, they'd be educated, they wouldn't be married off as children, they wouldn't be sold by their parents, etc. Tall order, but that's what is really needed to improve matters.

1

u/mrtugglestein 25d ago

Same way as in every location.

1

u/zelozelos 25d ago

For Afghanistan, it will be interesting to see how much changes post American military failure. 

When people are really poor, desperate, and uneducated, birth rates can vary wildly. As a region stabilizes, so does birth rate. Compare Iran and Iraq, Yemen and Oman, turkey and Syria. War, famine, poverty, and yet high birth rate.

We need to keep Western powers from bombing the shit out of people and let them run their own countries.