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03/05/2008: "Smarter people breed less"

Recent data on post-war birth cohorts in the U.S.A. show a negative relationship between IQ and fertility, both actual and expected.

The membership of Mensa may not be a representative sample of the high-IQ population as a whole, as it seems to attract a disproportionate number of low procreators even for this population. However, there is no reason to believe that changes in fertility rates across cohorts within Mensa, relative to changes in the national fertility rates, do not reliably reflect changes in fertility rates across cohorts within the high-IQ population of the U.S.A. as a whole, again relative to those of the nation, though these rates may be fluctuating around different means.

[ Same is true of smarter nations: they are outbred by others, but don't face the third world problems created by too many stupid people, or at least, face them only when their own stupidity stock rises. ]

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V9F-45Y6N36-2G&_user=10&_coverDate=12%2F31%2F1984&_alid=669075750&_rdoc=7&_fmt=summary&_orig=mlkt&_cdi=5897&_sort=v&_st=17&_docanchor=&view=c&_ct=94&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=5da8977ce9f9e33afdfa1481ef617fda