Guess which nation has the lowest birth rate in the world?

Guess which nation has the lowest birth rate in the world?

Did you guess the USA, no
Italy, no
France, no
Japan, no

It is Taiwan

Here is an article by Cindy Sui, of BBC News, in Taipei, about government measures to attempt to reverse this trend.

Taiwan's government has acknowledged its birth rate declined last year, even as it introduced a series of measures to encourage people to have babies.
These included stipends for giving birth and childcare subsidies.

Taiwan's total fertility rate - the average number of children women have during their childbearing years - dropped to 0.9 last year, down from 1.03 the previous year.

That gives Taiwan the lowest fertility rate in the world, the statistics show.
Some Taiwanese women are reluctant to have children.

"We think it's not suitable to raise children, especially in Taiwan. In Taiwan, when a girl gets married she has to sacrifice a lot," one says.

"Once she reaches a certain academic level she can't just stay at home and take care of kids and her parents-in-law, but that's still what the older generation expects from them."

Another says: "Taiwan's work hours are really long. That makes it difficult to get married and have kids. You might not have much free time and it's hard to relax."
These women's views reflect those of many Taiwanese people. Wages here are considered low compared to the cost of childcare and property prices.

Many couples still live with their parents or in-laws. Many Taiwanese women also delay getting married to pursue academic degrees or careers.

Some complain it is hard for them to find a husband once they reach 30 because of old-fashioned views about women.

In addition, many employers frown upon female workers taking extended maternity leave, and expect mothers to work the same amount of overtime as they did before they gave birth.

The government, however, blames the lower birth rate on superstition.

The year 2009 was considered an unlucky year to get married, and 2010 - the year of the tiger - a bad year to have children.

However, officials say this year is considered a lucky one as it is the country's 100th anniversary.

Between January and July, the number of marriages rose more than 12% compared to the same period last year, and the number of births also shot up.
Next year, the year of the dragon, is especially auspicious for having children.

Baguette vending machine? Ca n'est pas vrai!

French baker Jean-Louis Hecht opens the back of his baguette dispenser, which loads 120 baguettes in Paris, Monday, Aug. 8, 2011. The baker from northeast France has rolled out a 24 hour automated baguette dispenser, holding out the promise of warm, fresh bread available for hungry night owls, graveyard shift workers, and anyone else who forgot or didn't have time to pick one up during the corner bakery's opening hours.

I would have been very skeptical of this had I been still living in France where le pain is sacred!!

China Vows Crackdown On Sex-Selective Abortions

It’s about time!!

From the AP

China is vowing to strengthen enforcement to prevent sex-selective abortions and narrow the infamous gender gap in a country that already has tens of millions more boys than girls.

The pledge is in the outline of a plan for childhood development through 2020 but has no specifics. The plan said authorities would increase efforts against the non-medical use of ultrasound tests and abortion of fetuses based on gender.

Spurred by the one-child policy and a traditional preference for boys, sex-selective abortion has created a male-female ratio at birth in China of about 119 males to 100 females, with the gap as high as 130 males for every 100 females in some provinces. In industrialized countries, the ratio is 107 to 100.

Do you know which ten cities have the largest foreign-born populations?

Before I reveal the winners, here is a Wikipedia definition of foreign born:

Foreign born (also non-native) is a term used to describe a person born outside of their country of residence. Foreign born are often non-citizens, but are also frequently naturalized citizens of a country.

The term foreign born encompasses both immigrants and expatriates but is not synonymous with either. Foreign born may, like immigrants, have committed to living in a country permanently or, like expatriates, live abroad for a significant period with the plan to return to their birth-country eventually.

The status of foreign born — particularly their access to citizenship — differs globally. The large groups of foreign born guest workers in the Gulf States, for example, have no right to citizenship no matter the length of their residence. In Canada and the United States, by contrast, foreign born are often citizens or in the process of becoming citizens. Certain countries have intermediary rules: in Germany and Japan it is often difficult but not impossible for the foreign born to become citizens.

Now, here is the list from highest to lowest:

Dubai
Hong Kong
Toronto
Miami
Los Angeles
Riyadh
Sydney
San Francisco
Melbourne
London

How do you think this effects economics, poltics, and culture in these cities? The answer is, of course, every situation is influenced by different variables.

France bids adieu to the words Facebook and Twitter from broadcast journalism

It was 2003. The Culture Ministry in France announced a ban on the use of "e-mail" in all government ministries, documents, publications or websites. Some say it was considered yet another step to stem an incursion of English words into the French lexicon.

Now, in 2011, French officials have banned the use of Twitter and Facebook on public airwaves.

Are the French further protecting the integrity of their language from the influence of Anglo-Saxon culture or simply just trying to remove product placement from public broadcasting. Or is it, as one blogger states, It isn't so much that the words are in English that upsets French sensibilities. It is the fact that the whole thing, the idea of open to everyone, free circulation of information, spreading gossip, mayhem, self-regulating, social cacophony is UN-FRENCH.

You decide—

Here is an article about Frances latest move to ban words that happen to be non-French, from public use:

Twitter and Facebook reminders banned from French airwaves by Kim Willsher in Paris for the guardian.co.uk

How do you say Facebook and Twitter in French? You don't – at least, not if you are on radio or television, where French officials have banned any mention of them unless they are specifically part of the story.

The internet sites have fallen foul of a 1992 decree that outlaws the advertising or promotion of private business on programmes. Journalists will no longer be able to end their reports by saying "Follow us on Twitter" or "Have a look at our Facebook page", because the French government deems this as either blatant or subliminal promotion, and has decided it is unfair to other similar networks.

Christine Kelly, spokeswoman for the Conseil Supérieur de l'Audiovisuel (CSA), the government broadcasting authority, said: "Why give preference to Facebook, which is worth billions of dollars, when there are other social networks that are struggling for recognition. This would be a distortion of competition. If we allow Facebook and Twitter to be cited on air, it's opening a Pandora's box. Other social networks will complain to us, saying 'Why not us?'"

Kelly said the CSA was not seeking to block the networks, only to foster fairer practices. "We encourage the use of social networks ... CSA members spend hours on them. Perhaps one day Facebook will become a generic term, but for the moment it is a commercial enterprise – a leading one, certainly, but not the only one."

No details have been given on how the rule will be enforced or what punishment might await those who continue to say Facebook and Twitter on air.

The ban comes less than two weeks after President Nicolas Sarkozy's internet and digital technology summit, the e-G8, where he was given a Facebook T-shirt by the site's founder, Mark Zuckerberg.

Some commentators have suggested the ban is another effort by France to control the influence of Anglo-Saxon cultural influences, particularly those seen as encouraging the use of English.

The two sites have been particularly cited in relation to the scandal surrounding the arrest of Socialist presidential candidate Dominique Strauss-Kahn on sexual assault charges in New York.

"The CSA hasn't understood that above being trademarks, Twitter and Facebook are public spaces where more than 25% of the French public discuss and exchange information," said journalist Benoît Raphael.
Kelly said broadcasters must not use the website names unless it was "pivotal to the story". Instead, they should say: "Find us on social networks."

Malta Votes on Whether to Legalize Divorce

Young women walk past a billboard reading
"Christ Yes, Divorce No" in Sliema, outside Valletta, May 6.

Malta votes on whether to legalize divorce
'The divorce referendum is a vote for modernity and an opportunity for those whose marriage has broken down to be able to start afresh' By Christopher Scicluna

The people of Malta started voting Saturday, May 28, in a referendum on whether or not to introduce divorce.

The Mediterranean island of 400,000 people is the only country in Europe that does not allow the practice.

Only divorce granted abroad is recognized in Malta.

Opinion polls suggest the result could go either way, with 40 percent of the electorate still undecided.

The vote is seen as a test of the influence of the Roman Catholic Church in a country where 72 percent of people still say they go to Mass on Sundays.

I am surprised to learn that a European country is so Catholic that it bans divorce.

10 Countries With The Highest Growth in Income Inequality

Here is an article, written by Harry Bradford, that reveals the results of an OECD study about the growth in income inequality among nations. 5-24-11

Of all the effects of the economic crisis, perhaps one of the least visible, but most consequential has been the rising rate of income inequality around the world.

A recent report, released by the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and entitled "Society at a Glance 2011 - OECD Social Indicators," shows exactly where the gap between rich and poor has grown widest.

Based on a measurement known as the Gini coefficient, which rates countries from 0 to 1, where zero indicates perfect equality and one indicates all wealth goes to a single individual, the report finds growing rates of income inequality everywhere from Oceania to Scandinavia. Between the mid-1980s and late 2000s, the average Gini coefficient for OECD countries rose annually by an average of 0.3 percent, and now sits at 0.31.

High rates of income inequality might be unsurprising in developing countries such as Portugal and Mexico. But countries with historically low levels of income inequality have experienced significant increases over the past decade, too, including Denmark, Sweden and Germany, the OECD recently reported.

Here are the nations with the worst income inequality growth(beginning with highest inequality)according to the OECD. The USA ranks 4th.

1. Chile
2. Mexico
3. Turkey
4. USA
5. Israel
6. Portugal
7. UK
8. Italy
9. Australia
10.New Zealand

Do any of these candidates surprise you? I was surprised that Israel makes the list.