From the NYTimes: Persistent Drop in Fertility Reshapes Europe's Future.

For example, Italy now has the world's oldest population. The percentage of people 60 or older is 25, compared with 16 percent in the United States, according to the population division of the United Nations.

The division's experts project that by 2050, if current trends hold, 42 percent of Italy's population will be 60 or older.

Antonio Golini, a professor of demographics at the University of Rome, Sapienza, said that would be "unsustainable, from a cultural and even psychological point of view."

The Irish birthrate is supposedly the highest in Europe, but ESRI statistics pin it at 1.9 births, lower than this article's high of 2.1 births.  Either way, the figure puts paid to the widespread stereotype of 'typical' Irish families of 8 or 10 kids. The Times article also pinpoints why such falls will precede a real crisis -- today's under-30s will reach retirement age in a Europe (and US) that will not be able to supply much of a pension, as the workforce will be too small to support the greying population. This raises major healthcare and infrastructure concerns, too -- if Irish people today are exasperated by the state of their healthcare system, just imagine the one in 20 years that has fewer taxes to support it.

12:04:30 PM  #   your two cents []

Broadband about-face. The broadband race makes a U-turn, as Web giants like AOL ditch plans to run their own high-speed services and move toward branding partnerships with the Baby Bells and others. [CNET News.com]
11:49:54 AM  #   your two cents []

Will Durant. "Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance." [Quotes of the Day]
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Ring Tones Will Save the Music Industry [Slashdot]
11:47:55 AM  #   your two cents []

Tech Forecasts: IDC Keeps Score. Every year, IDC makes 10 predictions -- then tallies its score when the year is up. The company gives itself 7.5 out of 10 for 2002 forecasts, but other analysts say IDC was only right half the time. [Wired News]
11:46:07 AM  #   your two cents []

The Register: Greece, Denmark (and no-one else) make EC copyright deadline. The deadline for implementing new European laws on copyright protection passed on Sunday (December 22) with just two countries signing up. The European Union's controversial Copyright Directive (AKA Europe's DMCA) made it onto the statue books of only Greece and Denmark in time... [Tomalak's Realm] ... Ireland [not] at the EU digital forefront, yet again...
11:45:39 AM  #   your two cents []

All the Sex Has Been Edited Out. Or Has It?. A New York artist is digitally altering the photographs taken on the sets of pornographic films.  [New York Times: Technology]
11:44:28 AM  #   your two cents []

Dan Gillmor at the San Jose Mercury-News, one of the first journoblogniks, has migrated his weblog over to Movable Type. Lookin' good! His URL has also changed -- the new link for his blog is http://weblog.siliconvalley.com/column/dangillmor/, though he notes that old links will stay live for the foreseeable future, as he also moves archives to his new site (there was plenty of annoyance last year when the Merc moved to a new system and changed URLs willy-nilly, thus losing much archived content due to link rot). Dan has some good suggestions for those thinking about making holiday donations to worthy organisations -- why not some of those that fight for your online and digital freedoms?
11:40:23 AM  #   your two cents []

Donald Foster. "No one who cannot rejoice in the discovery of his own mistakes deserves to be called a scholar." [Quotes of the Day]
11:32:25 AM  #   your two cents []

AT&T delays 3G, plans limited service by end 2004. Partner NTT DoCoMo agrees to a much reduced launch [InfoWorld: Top News]
11:31:40 AM  #   your two cents []

G.E. Research Returns to Roots. A team of researchers for G.E. are hoping to usher in an era of cheap, clean-burning lights, batteries, solar cells and the beginning of plastic-based electronics. [New York Times: Technology]
11:31:00 AM  #   your two cents []

Hot links, cool trends on the Web. Five years ago, the highest-ranking Net searches included "Star Trek," and "megahertz." Now make room for Shakira, "Hulk" star Eric Bana and high-school basketball star LeBron James. [CNET News.com]
11:29:11 AM  #   your two cents []