Natural Selection and the Birth-Rate
- 1 November 1944
- journal article
- research article
- Published by University of Chicago Press in The American Naturalist
- Vol. 78 (779) , 534-543
- https://doi.org/10.1086/281226
Abstract
Natural selection is defined as the perpetuation of the fittest to perpetuate. Fertility-favoring mutations decrease the individual''s chance of survival but viability-favoring mutations do not necessarily result in a lowering of fertility. Therefore, overproduction occurs as a result of natural selection, rather than being the cause of it. These concepts are used in interpreting present and possible future trends in human birth rate. Other human factors, such as the struggle for individual economic survival, sexual desire, and contracepti6n, are adequately considered.This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: