ABSTRACT
Charles would have been fresh in mind. The author of The Twilight of Parenthood, Dr Charles was not pessimistic for her time in comparing the UK's population in 1935 of some 40.6 million with the prospect for 2035 of under 35 million, and perhaps as few as 19 million. Some academic work done at that time suggested that the figure might have fallen to as little as 14 million by 1970. Sir Roy Harrod (as he later became) and many others bewailed the prospect and consequences of a declining population. Dr Charles came in for particular criticism for saying that the UK population might 'only' have declined to 33,585,000 in 2035 (from 43 million in 1975) - the cognoscenti much preferred her projection to 19 million.
