this post was submitted on 28 Sep 2023
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[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I am not an expert, but it seems like most developed countries are learning to deal with a shrinking population. The current decline hasn't had effects like loosening up the job market, so it seems to me this means it's not currently causing any problems that would be catastrophic. There's clearly enough workers for the work that needs to get done.

I think there's not yet been a article of all the 'doom and gloom' of population decline that actually explains why it's worse than overpopulation.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Because the problems come years after the birthrate decline when a large portion of your population is retired and you don’t have enough young workers to fill the roles they typically fill

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

It's going to be tough but it needs to happen eventually, plus now we have ai which should help alleviate some of that once it really gets going

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

You'll also run out of young people who can just take care of the elderly.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

For one, those roles dont pay worth a damn anymore. Two, many roles are being automated.

This society we built is now too expensive for anyone but the top 10 to 20 percent to afford. All these old people are expecting youngsters to foot the bill, but the young cannot even afford to look after themselves let alone an entire generation of seniors. How the hell are they supposed to afford kids?

[–] [email protected] -4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

and you don’t have enough young workers to fill the roles they typically fill

This is a myth. Immigration guarantees that you'll ALWAYS have workers to fill whatever roles you need filled.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I can't tell if you are sarcastic or serious. Population growth is slowing globally so it's not like there is an infinite supply of young people.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 1 year ago

Population growth is slowing globally so it’s not like there is an infinite supply of young people.

There doesn't need to be an infinite supply... of any age group.

This is simply a course correction for what's been an unsustainable pace of population growth worldwide in the last 100 years.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Oh man let's tell that to the Koreans and see how they feel about that...

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

Hey, if they have a solution to a problem that they "don't like", too bad for them.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

most developed countries are learning to deal with a shrinking population

Not really, most countries are dealing with it by increasing immigration. That's clearly not a sustainable long-term plan.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Why not? If you manage immigration such that the population stays constant, what's bad?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

It relies on the birth rate in other parts of the world to stay high (something you can never guarantee), and requires that those countries stay poor enough that they want to leave everything behind and emigrate (something you can't guarantee, and also something shitty to try to guarantee).

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Except we need really tight labor shortages to jack up wages and house prices to go down