NY Times: Historic demographic shift on horizon

[Big Blitz]

You can almost sense a “cheering on” of the death of the West in this piece:

 

 

How a Vast Demographic Shift Will Reshape the World
 

For decades, the world’s dominant powers have benefited from large working-age populations that help drive economic growth.

 

….The world’s demographics have already been transformed. Europe is shrinking. China is shrinking, with India, a much younger country, overtaking it this year as the world’s most populous nation.

 

But what we’ve seen so far is just the beginning.

 

The projections are reliable, and stark: By 2050, people age 65 and older will make up nearly 40 percent of the population in some parts of East Asia and Europe. That’s almost twice the share of older adults in Florida, America’s retirement capital. Extraordinary numbers of retirees will be dependent on a shrinking number of working-age people to support them.

 

In all of recorded history, no country has ever been as old as these nations are expected to get.

 

As a result, experts predict, things many wealthier countries take for granted — like pensions, retirement ages and strict immigration policies — will need overhauls to be sustainable. And today’s wealthier countries will almost inevitably make up a smaller share of global G.D.P., economists say.

 

This is a sea change for Europe, the United States, China and other top economies, which have had some of the most working-age people in the world, adjusted for their populations. Their large work forces have helped to drive their economic growth.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/07/16/world/world-demographics.html

 

 

 

 

One only has to look at the cost of gas, groceries, energy, and day care to know we will not be saying many families of 2 let alone 3 kids.

[HomeskillitMoorman]

So this is a "people aren't having enough babies" thing? I don't know what the solution to that is. 

 

I don't think it's only money, I think less people in general want to have kids now than they used to as well. Increase in divorce rates also have something to do with it, and there are a lot of factors that play into that. As it stands right now, I'm probably included in that group (not in the divorce one, just thinking right now that I don't want to have kids).