The UK’s fertility rate is at an all-time low, and many other countries face similar declines, creating ageing populations. But can ecological benefits of fewer people outweigh social problems created?

According to one leading demographer the most consequential announcement last week relating to future tax revenues and demands on the NHS was not to be found in the budget. It was instead a statistic released by the Office for National Statistics: the average fertility rate is now 1.44 children per woman – the lowest figure since records began.

For Paul Morland, author of No One Left: Why the World Needs More Children, it’s just the latest milestone in a long term and worrying trend. “We’ve had a below replacement level fertility rate now for 50 years,” he says. “We now have more deaths than births, and we are not alone.”