Is the World’s Demographic Crisis Getting Worse?

The world population continues to grow and shows no signs of stopping for at least a few more decades. But despite this, there has been a worrying trend of falling birth rates and shrinking populations worldwide, and countries such as China and Japan are already experiencing significant declines. In this video, we analyse the trends behind the decline, delve into potential solutions, and their implications for the future.

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[shapelessed]

South Korea's birth rate is 0.78? Who'd figure requiring your children to go to school so early, force them to study at home till 1am at night, sleep on average 4-5 hours and make their entire lives a competition "or else..." would result in stress levels so high they wouldn't wish the same for their children? Who'd figure...

[Konstantinos]

You know, the fact that people are worried of both overpopulation and a declining population is, in my opinion, very wierd

[ELS-tone]

One factor I don't hear discussed much is that even if a woman has, say, 3 children to meet replacement rate, generations are getting further apart with people starting families in their 30s instead of 20s. This means instead of each family making up 2 generations of working age (one in their early 20's & one in their late 40's/early 50's) to support the elderly population at a given time, it is only one generation supporting both the children who aren't old enough to work _and_ the elderly

[TiasVsEverything]

I love how “I will die in the gutter if I have to support a child financially” is treated as a “fertility” problem.

[mtpender]

When real wages have been going backward for decades, owning your own home (or even having housing security) is out of reach for most and everyone getting shoved into cities that discourage people from having children, is it any wonder we aren't having kids anymore?

[zuzmaw]

After graduating high school, I started out full-time at Amazon. I worked all the overtime that was offered to me. I didn't even qualify for a studio bedroom apartment lmao. I'm not saying things can't get better on an individual level, but the average kid is NOT entering this world with the same way their parents or grandparents had when they graduated high school. You can get into the weeds of "Oh you just gotta do 'x' right, 'y' better'" but it's no coincidence men en masse are choosing not to date and women not to have children. The average worker has less buying power and a lower standard of living. If you want a big-picture take on this, wealth disparity is as high as it's been since the Gilded Age, and It's only going to get worse as the population increases. This means less available housing for the low-paid but essential workforce. We will have to suffer the consequences of forcing more people onto the streets. Who the fuck wants to bring kids into this?

[TheTifier]

I’m a Canadian who’s worked full-time at a truss-building plant busting my butt to make $600 a week after taxes…

Only to face the reality that rent and the necessary car costs to get to work require the vast majority of my monthly pay check…

Average rent for a one bedroom in Ontario is $1500.

Average monthly cost of a car is $500.

That leaves $400 aside for food, utilities, and savings…

Utilities takes up $200-300 no problem.

So… $100-200 for food and savings…?

So working full-time at a truss-building factory makes me working poor and makes me require food stamps…?!

No freaking way I’m starting a family or risking getting anyone pregnant!

[samspencer]

As someone whos starting their career as a gardener, an ageing population is music to my ears.

[merrymachiavelli]

I bang on about this all the time - the issue isn't that the population is declining, the issue is that population in going to decline _really_ fast, especially in some parts of the world, in a way that's completely unprecedented in human history.

Countries are going to see their populations halve in a century, and _wildly_ out of balance population pyramids - if you had the same declines over 500 years, a lot fewer issues would be created - you wouldn't have the same generational imbalances and society and infrastructure would have time to adjust. Focusing on 'Population Decline' as opposed to 'Rapid Population Decline' or 'Population Crash' misses the issue. Fewer people are good - fewer people suddenly are bad.

Migration also won't save countries forever. The global pool of ideal migrators (people in their 20s) is shrinking as well, at the same time more countries are becoming reliant on migration. Soon, we'll have a major issue of developed countries fighting to get migrants _in_ as opposed to keeping migrants _out_, and some countries having to deal with the double-whammy of below-replacement fertility _and_ net emigration.

[lonelychameleon]

Young people should use this as leverage to get as much out of their governments as they can.

"Oh you want me to have children? Make it worth my while."

[AQBPlays]

Do me a favour.

My entire life overpopulation and the population essentially cannibalising itself was drummed into me over and over and over.

Now you want me to care their won’t be enough?

I don’t care.

[KennethHaberman]

It's far too expensive to have kids these days, so lots of us have just decided not to.

[darksnakenerdmaster]

A lot of young people avoid starting a family because of the massive cost. So much of the money that would have gone to young people that would be starting families now was soaked up byu conglomerates and older generations refusing to pass on the economic benefits to those younger than themselves. If you want to up fertility rates, start by removing cost barriers.

[Raul_Menendez]

That's cute.

When the CEOs are running out of workers, they start to panic.

[VachicorneOld]

Living in the UK, for me, the biggest problem preventing me from having a child is real estate.

[ismvpfn]

Even India's population is on the brink of a decline. India's fertility rate is already near replacement level and it is expected to decrease further.

[gentlemandemon]

So much of our financial structure is premised on an infinite ability to grow, and that just fundamentally isn't possible. We should be reworking financial systems to prioritize stability, but I'm sure that won't happen without some sort of climate or population catastrophe.

[XieRH]

Policies to encourage having children don't work because a lot of the reason people are reluctant to have kids these days are tied to existing socioeconomic conditions that are large and complex beyond the capability of any government to solve

[davidgarridoecunha]

I’m 32 and live in southern europe. Most of my colleagues/friends struggle with paying rent and make ends meet.
Most people on their 30s don’t seem have the available income to have one child (nevermind 2 or 3).
Perhaps we should have economic model aiming prosperity and not never-ending economic growth, accept declining fertility rates as a reality and implement economic policies to take advantage of that fact, and level the immediate economic disadvantages by allowing increased immigration rates

[DDSMASH]

Bad news for economic growth.
Good news for:
Water supply/rivers/seas
Forests/wild spaces
Bird life
Wild mammals
Insects
All aquatic life
If we go back to 1960-70s level populations, is that so bad? Consumption will be far less of a threat to all other species