Z.P.G. Achieved

The Pill, considerations of environment, the cost of education and overall economic pressures have finally caught up with the wartime and postwar baby boom. According to newly released federal statistics, the birth rate in the U.S. has declined to a level of 2.08 children per family--or just below the 2.1 plateau needed to achieve zero population growth. That marks a precipitous decline from the palmy days of 1957, when the birth rate stood at a staggering 3.8 children per family.

Zero population growth is the ultimate goal of family-planning groups concerned with the implications of spiraling overpopulation. This marks the first time the U.S. has reached the optimum figure; given the dire Malthusian forecasts advanced by many scientists and sociologists, that is an encouraging sign. It does not mean, however, that population growth will level off significantly in the near future. Since there are now so many young child-producing families in U.S. society, the maintenance of the 2.1 figure really means that the population will level off at around 280 million in 2037.

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