We’ve already started to see the effects of fewer children being born in countries worldwide, like deserted towns and shut-down schools. China’s population is about to start dwindling rapidly and will be on track to reach 730 million by 2100. South Korea has the lowest fertility rate in the world, with an average of 0.78 children per woman. Although a lower population would put less strain on resources around the world, it will also harbor many negative effects, and society may need to adjust to the population decline that is bearing over our world’s future.
What’s the reason for this incoming threat? There are multiple reasons. In more developed countries, more people have access to education, birth control, and the control to decide whether they want children or not. Also, many women decide to not have children as it can be seen as an economic drain and would put a strain on their income due to the increasing price of housing and inflation.
We can see this in South Korea, which is a rich and well-off country, where their fertility rate is at an all-time low in years. But in less developed or developing countries, the fertility rates are much higher, hovering approximately at 4 children per woman. In Niger, the fertility rate is the highest in the world at 6.41 children per woman.
The reason for this increase in less developed countries is that people generally have less education and less access to family planning. These countries also tend to have a higher mortality rate, including infants. The death of a child in their family might cause them to want to have more children, leading to a higher rate of fertility than developed countries. Although, even countries with more children being born have had a slight decline in fertility, with Niger falling 1.34% in 2022 and 2023.
The population problem we will soon be in will have many effects on our society, both positive and negative. On the positive side, countries will be able to distribute resources better, as there will be fewer individuals to sustain. This could lead to less water scarcity in many countries. The strain on the land will also relax as fewer people will be inhabiting it. We won’t have to build more cities to handle an ever-growing population, which means there could be less deforestation.
On the flip side, a population decline would mean less, if any, economic growth. Without a growing population, there wouldn’t be enough services to keep an economy going. Some workers may be underutilized despite their skills, too. As we are already starting to see, many schools have had trouble finding students to enroll. This has caused them to shut down. With a continual drop in fertility rates, this is sure to become more common in the future. Population decline affects small towns, too. Some towns can go deserted because no more children are being born, as the towns just harbor old people.
China is seeing a very sharp decline in children being born, and it’s all because they tried to enforce rules in their country to fend off overpopulation. In 1979, China introduced the one-child policy, in hopes of combating overpopulation. This policy forced women to only be able to have one child. By the end of this, it is estimated that this policy prevented 400 million births.
Even though this curbed their population, it seems to have worked a little too well. China now has an extremely large elderly population, and few young people left. There is also a very apparent sex imbalance, as the one-child policy drove families to only want a son. Now, men there are finding it hard to find wives. This results in fewer marriages, and overall fewer births. In 2015, China officially lifted the policy, seeing how much it hurt its population. But the damage has already been done. China is now facing a steep population decline, their population is estimated to be at 730 million by 2100, a 27% decrease.
Other countries are not immune to the suffering that China is facing. Most countries now are finding a lower fertility rate among their people, and this will lead to problems in the future. As a society, in the coming decades, we will have to adjust to the steady decline of children being born. People around the world will have to face the problem head-on and figure out solutions to soften its damage. Although the numbers do seem threatening, we can change to combat this growing issue and overcome the obstacles it throws at us.
