World population to shrink in 21st century amid birthrate fall: UN - The Mainichi
mainichi.jp
TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The world population is expected to start shrinking within this century after hitting a peak in the mid-2080s due to lower fertility

The world population is expected to start shrinking within this century after hitting a peak in the mid-2080s due to lower fertility levels, particularly in China, according to the latest projection by the United Nations.

  • GreyEyedGhostEnglish
    5·
    4 months ago

    What about if people don’t die prematurely, but the population isn’t replaced? Because that’s the scenario this article is talking about. Not additional deaths, but fewer births.

    • LustyArgonian@lemmy.worldEnglish
      23·
      4 months ago

      I take issue specifically with the verbiage the commenter was using regarding the black death and wars. And the idea that more people = bad working conditions; less people = good working conditions when that’s not the case of what was happening (which was more something like an inheritance/windfall).

      In the case of babies not being born in modern times, there are a few things to consider.

      • One, that speech doesn’t get weird and start advocating for a Handmaid’s Tale Dystopia (forced repopulation for the sake of repopulation).
      • Two, that likely poorer people and probably certain groups will be affected disproportionately by this which is the equivalent of a silent genocide or several silent genocides
      • Three, that we acknowledge there are many sad factors at play as to why people aren’t having children and those factors will likely get worse
      • Four, that we acknowledge that AI could very well bridge the worker shortage gap for some time until climate change kills everyone

      The pressure we are feeling is from climate change and the rich. Hoping that there will be less humans to give everyone a break is delusional, especially because the past HAD less humans and workers had shit rights then compared to now. We aren’t getting saved by anything, not even if we die or sacrifice our would-be children to the sun god.

      • GreyEyedGhostEnglish
        41·
        4 months ago

        Well, that’s all well and good, but that has little to do with anything the other person, or the article were talking about. It’s all well and good to disagree that a reduced population will lead to more wealth equality, or that climate change or AI will derail these predictions, but accusing the other person of eugenics or genocide is hyperbolic at best.

        Also, for the last century, the less educated have been disproportionately increasing the population, typically because people with less education are living in poorer countries, which leads to more child mortality, and children are basically the only retirement plan people had prior to the last century. Why you would think this would change is beyond me, because we still have no indication even today that the more educated or wealthy are interested in having more kids, outliers like Elon Musk and Nick Cannon notwithstanding.

        • LustyArgonian@lemmy.worldEnglish
          22·
          4 months ago

          What? First off, they brought it up first, so it has quite a bit to do with them. Second, I quoted the part that is the core of most genocidal beliefs including the Nazis: Believing people are better off when people are killed off.

          Climate change is why this will change. It will disproportionately affect the poor and already has started. I already explained this. Get with the end times.

          The reason the rich are doing that is because they believe they will need to repopulate the earth. People like Elon have very odd religious beliefs due to survivor bias.