World will feel crunch of fewer marriages and children

A dangerous mixture of increasing urbanization, longer work hours and the waning influence of religion has set off a demographic time bomb that is leading to a slow-motion population collapse in most of the world’s industrialized nations.

Joel Kotkin, a prominent authority on economic and social trends, made that assertion Wednesday as he painted a picture of a “post-familial” future marked by a shortage of children to support aging populations or to spark innovations that energize the global economy in the 21st century.