The Biggest Looming Crisis In Front Of Mankind : Global Population Decline

Global Population Decline : The Biggest Emerging Crisis In Front Of Mankind 

The Begining Of Crisis 

As we enter the third decade of the 21st century, an unexpected trend is emerging: the global population is beginning to decline. This shift is not just a demographic statistic; it is a seismic change that could reshape global economies and societies. We know that overpopulation was a big challenge for a mankind  for several decades but now an unexpected trend was seen. Now a days, most of the countries of the world facing the population decline. Elon Musk address this crisis as the challenge bigger than global warming and WW3. 

According to the United Nations, the world population is projected to peak around 9.7 billion by 2050 before entering a period of decline. After that , global population starts declining. However, there is a various countries who already facing the population decline. For example, South Korea having the fertility rate of 0.8 which is lowest in the world and not able to replace their current population. If trend will continued, then, 40% to 60% of their population will erase by 2050. Even, in India, the most of the states have fertility rate less than 2.2 which can leads to emergence of this problem

 

The Factors Contributing To Global Population Decline

1. Societal Shift : From, last few decades, women empowerment and education was highly get promoted by most of the government which can leads to delayed marriages, low child birth and increasing divorce rate. Now a days society starts valuing personal freedom and career aspirations above marriage and child birth. Also, declining testosterone levels in males and child birth ability in females can contribute to this crisis in various countries .

2. Economic Pressure : High cost of living including rising housing prices, education cost and healthcare expenses makes families unable to afford and nourish a child. The high living costs and financial uncertainty creates a challenging environment for young families to nourish and developed a child, leading to low birth rates and contributing to overall population decline. Because of these both factors, fertility rate of women get declined especially in developed countries.

3. Government Policies : In some countries, government policies to control overpopulation and policies against immigration can leads to population decline. For example, one child policy in China was introduced to control their population growth but eventually it cause the population decline. In 2023, fertility rate of China becomes 1.2 which is not able to replace their current population .

4. Aging Population : Most of the countries having huge chunk of elder population in their population which is more than their young population . Generally, elder chunk of population was able to birth a birth which leads to low birth rate. This can cause the death rate higher than the birth rate which can eventually cause population decline . 

Global Scenario 

Because of these above factors, population decline becomes the important issue for globe. As you can seen in the map, most of the countries having the fertility rate less than 2.1 which is not able to replace their current population. Here, North America, Europe, and East Asia becomes the major hotspots of the crisis. The Africa is only continent where every country are able to replace their population

The Impact of Population Decline 

1. Economic Slowdown : As population decline, the demand and consumption of goods and services will decline which can cause low production in the market. This can eventually leads to fall or stagnation of national income. Regions experiencing population decline may see a decrease in entrepreneurial activities. This can cause low competition which can cause price increasement and lack of innovation. Also, there will low workforce available to run the economy.

2. Increased Dependency Ratio : As birth rates decline, the ratio of dependents population to the working-age population increases. When the dependent population become more than working population, working population comes in stress to taking care and mange their elders. Also, huge part of public revenue will spends on pensions, healthcare and old age homes which stops Government to big initiatives for future.

3. Improved Quality of Life : As population decline, resource per capita and opportunities get increase for an individual. Due to low population, various facilities like healthcare, education, transport, etc get provide more efficiently.  A smaller population can lead to reduced demand for resources such as water, energy, and food, resulting in less environmental degradation.