One of the things that folks in the 22nd century will find bizarre about their ancestors in the early 21st century will be that we were arguing about immigration when a global depopulation crisis loomed on the horizon. Darrell Bricker and John Ibbitson argue that by the middle of this century the world population will start to decline as the final major developing nations have their birth-rates fall below the replacement rate of 2.1 per woman. Although various governments have tried to arrest the trend, those efforts have proven largely ineffective and unsustainably expensive. The only method of slowing the decline is to embrace immigration as Canada and, to a lesser extent, the United States have done. The countries which admit the most immigrants today will have a major advantage half a century from now over those countries which chose to close their borders.

What are global population trends? Is our population actually growing rapidly? Why do wealthier urbanized countries have fewer children? How does immigration affect population decline? How did the smart phone affect global birth rates? Why do fertility rates decline as women become more educated?

Further Reading:

Empty Planet: The Shock of Global Population Decline, written by Darrell Bricker and John Ibbitson

The Population Bomb, 50 Years Later: A Conversation with Paul Ehrlich

The Unrealized Horrors of Population Explosion, written by Clyde Haberman

Global Population Decline And Economic Growth, written by Bill Conerly

Related Content:

Making the World Better, written by Aaron Ross Powell

The World is Getting Better, Free Thoughts Podcast

The Saddest Thing About China’s One-Child Policy, written by Marian L. Tupy

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