[jansan]

You would have to take some form of positive action, for example improve women's rights, to do so. But the problem is that this will reach only the more open minded parts of the population, which again will result in the other part (often religious fundamentalists or simply less educated parts of the population) inheriting the earth. It's a grim situation.

[quotemstr]

Right. Malthus gets the last laugh in the end, doesn't he? The carrying capacity of the Earth is finite, and even if you're able to educate and incentive 99% of the population into holding fertility constant, that other 1% will grow to dominate the population, since selection pressure operates on whatever it is inside of us that makes us want to have more or fewer children.

The only alternative is ongoing state control over reproduction, and even that just delays the inevitable.

[UberofXplsgo]

Well, all high growth populations have eventually slowed their population growth as gdp capita and mean years of schooling increased

[quotemstr]

The Amish don't seem particularly interested in this effect: they're growing rapidly. Same thing with the Haredi. This effect whereby "all high growth populations have eventually slowed their population growth as gdp capita and mean years of schooling increased" is a temporary phenomenon we observe while natural selection does its work and selects for those who are able to resist the fecundity-reducing effects of modernity --- people like the Amish and the Haredi.