7 Years 55 days Sober - Demographics Continued7 Years 55 days Sober - Demographics Continued
I'm Quitting Alcohol
Comedian David Boyle, over seven years sober, riffs on Spain’s drastic fertility decline, immigration, and ageing populations, tying it into wider questions about future societies. The episode blends raw humour, rough language and demographic stats rather than direct recovery tips.
14:35•9 Jul 2026
Sober, Sweary and Into Stats: Boyle on Spain’s Demographic Freefall
Episode Overview
- Spain’s fertility rate has been below replacement level since 1981, dropping to around 1.12 children per woman, which Boyle calls catastrophic.
- Immigration in Spain stayed very low for nearly two decades after fertility fell, then rose sharply as the population aged and declined.
- A significant share of immigration is framed as providing carers for older people who didn’t have enough children to look after them.
- At a fertility rate of 1.12, Boyle calculates that a country’s population could halve in about 31 years and fall to a quarter in roughly 61 years without immigration.
- He uses Australia’s past and present population and immigration figures to imagine how a modern country might shrink to the size of one city within a lifetime.
“"Once you start asking the right questions demographically shit starts getting wild."”
Curious about how others navigate their sobriety journey? This short, punchy episode of **"I'm Quitting Alcohol"** shows that life after booze can include some seriously nerdy obsessions – in this case, Spain’s collapsing birth rate. Australian comedian David Boyle, now 7 years and 55 days sober, swaps drunk war stories for numbers, charts (in his head), and plenty of swearing.
He breaks down Spain’s “catastrophic, catastrophic, catastrophic” fertility rate of around 1.12 children per woman, reminding you that replacement level is 2.1. If you’ve ever wondered how demographics might shape the future you’re getting sober for, this is surprisingly gripping. Boyle traces how Spain’s fertility has been below replacement since 1981 and links that long-term decline with later spikes in immigration.
He jokes that nobody cares when a population first slips under 2.1 because “everyone’s still young, everyone’s still healthy, no one gives a fuck” – until the bill arrives decades later. From old people needing imported carers to football clubs and rural towns shrinking, he paints a blunt, darkly funny picture of what happens when a society stops having kids.
He then turns the same lens on Australia, comparing past and present immigration figures and showing how quickly a country could shrink with a fertility rate like Spain’s. The tone stays raw, irreverent and unscripted, with Boyle bouncing between stats and jokes about “old cunts” and the Kama Sutra being invented because a population stopped reproducing. This one’s perfect if you like your sobriety content real, rough around the edges, and mixed with big-picture questions about where society is heading.
It’s less about cravings and more about what the next few decades might look like for those staying sober long-term. So, what kind of future are you staying sober for?
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