Upon the victory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini led Friday prayers at Tehran University. His sermon would carry the weight of an American State of the Union address. With time, Khomeini and his successor Ali Khamenei designated a substitute prayer leader from amongst the regime hierarchy.

Everybody who pays attention to these sorts of things knows Muslim societies are almost uniquely immune to the forces that have been driving down fertility rates on every continent for decades. But everybody, it seems, fell asleep before the final act.

Since the time of the Black Plague, the world’s population has headed in only one direction: up. But within a few decades, writes Ben J. Wattenberg in his new book Fewer: How the New Demography of Depopulation Will Shape Our Future (Ivan R. Dee, October 2004), the number...

The fight against terrorism is no closer to success today than it was a decade ago when, in the wake of the September 11 terror attacks, President George W. Bush declared a Global War on Terrorism.

Over the next two to three decades, India’s demographic composition will have a significant impact on the country’s economic and strategic capabilities. NBR spoke with expert demographer Nicholas Eberstadt about what India’s population profile will likely look like and how it compares to another major state in the region, China.

Sub-Saharan Africa will not emerge as a global economic force unless there is a complete turnaround in its economic performance, but there is reason to be cautiously optimistic about the shift to a new global development paradigm that would be far less dependent on natural resources.

Ben J. Wattenberg examines the implications of depopulation for global economics and geopolitics.

Poverty will always exist, compared to others, but we cannot deny that quality of life, on a global level, has improved.