A distorted view of population declines

Prof. Bob Park of the U. of Maryland and former president of the professional physicists' group, the American Physical Society, makes a good point about the hysteria that growth-is-good advocates are trying to whip up about population stabilization and (horrors!) declines:

4. POPULATION: ARE THEY SURE THEY HAVE THE THEORY RIGHT?
Demographic experts warn that population decline in Russia could have serious economic consequences. It’s the same growth-is-good bullshit that always comes from the Chamber of Commerce. Russia's neighbors, Norway, Finland and Sweden, have the highest standards of living in the world and small populations. Afghanistan, on the other hand, which is not exactly a tourist Mecca, has a fertility rate above 7, the highest in the world.