this post was submitted on 23 Sep 2025
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USpolitics
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This sort of America-centric analysis neglects the fact that birth rates have also dropped to well below replacement in other countries with governments and cultures very different from those in the USA, and that neither expanding the welfare state nor attempting to restore traditional values has reversed this trend in the countries that tried that. Thus a discussion of either potential causes or potential solutions which focuses specifically on the USA is fundamentally incomplete.
Birth rates below replacement is the solution imo. It may not be wat the rich want, but I think a population of 8 billion is not sustainable.
Global population is still growing, I think I read it's predicted to keep increasing into late mid century to around 11 billion before it plateaus and starts slowly falling.
The numbers get very optimistic from there will predictions of rebounds and other nonsense that is unlikely but the people claiming it will be long dead.
People who were raised as a single child are far more likely to only have one child so my bet is the population dwindles more quickly than these models indicate.
I agree that the answer to humanity's most pressing issues is lowering our population, but don't think it's a non-issue.
The old keep aging out of the workforce, there's not enough young to keep a viable tax base, utter collapse. Here's where someone says tax the snot out of the rich. I'm down with that! But in a shrinking population, they won't be rich long. Directly or indirectly, all of their money comes from us.
Right, so we’re all going to have to adopt some form of austerity, however, most of us are already down there. So I mean the sooner we scrap those yachts to build schools and homes the better
You say austerity, I say mass starvation. Depopulation is going to be an order of magnitude worse than, "Do with a little less." And global warming may well accelerate all of that.
Hell ya brother I’m a farmer, you’re preaching to the choir. All my crops died of drought and blight this year.
Humanity is incapable of finding equilibrium with it’s environment. We are killing a myriad of species and destroying our own climate stability. This problem is exasperated by high population numbers. Lower birth rate is a good thing since it’s clear humanity refuses to adapt to its environment. Our greed is unsustainable, especially when coupled with these population numbers or higher.
This comment presupposes that “below replacement rate” is a problem in need of a solution.
Yes, in a few thousand years it might be a problem. However, population growth is a problem for the next few decades at least.