Global: The ageing world

Nicholas Eberstadt says that humanity is on the brink of a historic shift as global population numbers are set to decline for the first time since the 1300s. This demographic shift will lead to societies that are shrinking and aging, fundamentally altering family structures and everyday life.

We highly recommend reading Nicholas Eberstadt’s article The Age of Depopulation: Surviving a World Gone Gray, Foreign Affairs magazine Nov/Dec 2024 issue (published on Oct 10)

As Eberstadt writes:

Although few yet see it coming, humans are about to enter a new era of history. Call it “the age of depopulation.” For the first time since the Black Death in the 1300s, the planetary population will decline. But whereas the last implosion was caused by a deadly disease borne by fleas, the coming one will be entirely due to choices made by people.

With birthrates plummeting, more and more societies are heading into an era of pervasive and indefinite depopulation, one that will eventually encompass the whole planet. What lies ahead is a world made up of shrinking and aging societies. Net mortality—when a society experiences more deaths than births—will likewise become the new norm. Driven by an unrelenting collapse in fertility, family structures and living arrangements heretofore imagined only in science fiction novels will become commonplace, unremarkable features of everyday life.

You can read the article in full here.