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Switzerland May Cap Population At Ten Million
Switzerland plans on holding a referendum this summer on whether or not to cap population at ten million between now and 2050.
('The Last Castle' by Jack Vance)
If successful, the vote on June 14 would oblige the government to take measures over the next quarter-century to limit immigration to Switzerland, where the population currently stands at roughly 9 million.Supporters of the initiative say those measures should include making it harder for foreigners to gain permanent residency, once the population passes 9.5 million, and revising the country’s agreement with the European Union that allows for free movement between Switzerland and the rest of the continent. (Switzerland is not part of the E.U.)
Both the government and Parliament voted to oppose the initiative but the referendum has been triggered automatically because more than 100,000 citizens have signed a petition in support of a vote.
(Via NYTimes.)
In The Last Castle by Jack Vance, the population of Castle Hagedorn was strictly controlled:
The population of Castle Hagedorn was fixed; each gentleman and each lady was permitted a single child. If by chance another were born he must either find someone who had not yet sired to sponsor it, or dispose of it another way. The usual procedure was to give the child into the care of the Expiationists.
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. wrote 2 B R 0 2 B (1962) describing a Federal Bureau of Termination.
Although this is one of my favorite novels, I'd forgive you if you had a novel in which population control was a central fact in mind. Share it!
Update 17-May-2026: Readers on X have responded with suggestions.
Karl K. Gallagher mentions a Larry Niven story that I haven't read for an age and an age:
Larry Niven's Gil the Arm story had Earth's population controlled by the Fertility Board. Gil sought out weird cases so he'd be too busy to be assigned to a "mother hunt."
It's from "ARM" in the Flatlander collection. pic.twitter.com/5qCmpvnFRv
— Karl K. Gallagher (@KarlKGallagher) May 16, 2026
RePopulus suggests The Test (1954) by Richard Matheson:
The night before the test, Les helped his father study in the dining room...
Tom Parker sat very straight, his lean, vein-ribbed hands clasped together on the table top, his pale blue eyes looking intently at his son’s lips as though it might help him to understand better.
He was 80 and this was his fourth test...“All right,” Les said, reading from the sample test Doctor Trask had gotten them. “Repeat the following sequences of numbers.”
"They were written questions and Les sat there timing his father. It was quiet in the house, warm. Everything seemed very normal and ordinary with the two of them sitting there and Terry sewing in the living room.
"That was the horror.
"Life went on as usual. No one spoke of dying. The government sent out letters, and the tests were given and those who failed were requested to appear at the government center for their injections. The law operated, the death rate was steady, the population problem was contained — all officially, impersonally, without a cry or a sensation.
"But it was still loved people who were being killed."
End update.
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