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[–] 16 points 1 month ago (4 children)

Isn't climate change going to take care of this for us? Parts of the planet are becoming uninhabitable, food crops are failing, fish stocks are on the verge of collapse.... We are going to struggle to feed 10 billion people unless things drastically change!

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  • [–] 3 points 1 month ago* (2 children)

    Historically when people are desperate , die younger, they responded by having more children

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  • [–] 8 points 1 month ago

    Historically, that might be true, but that is because historically it made sense to have more children in order to eventually gather more food or earn more money. Birth rates are dropping all over the place. Even in countries like India with traditionally very high birth rates. We are entering into a post-ubundance world, resources like food and clean water are becoming increasingly scarce and increasingly expensive. It makes no sense having babies if you're not sure you're going to be able to feed them.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 month ago

    We also consume a lot of meat and the like, which means we can feed a lot more people, if we wanted too.

    Today a good number of countries have natural population declines due to people having too few children. That includes some big ones like China, Russia, Japan, Germany and Italy. Also all continents beside Africa have a fertility rate below replacement. So in the coming decades the global population is likely to fall. Most of that is the side effect of good developments like women getting more rights, education and people becoming wealthier. It will just take time.

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