this post was submitted on 16 Aug 2023
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A Boring Dystopia
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The era of a strong economy was brought on by factors from WW2 and the weakening was brought on by 2-3x growth in world population.
More people fitting into the same cities means less space and more demand.
More people means more workers for jobs that pay even less because the competition is fiercer than ever.
More people means more percentage of resources going to surviving and less on luxuries.
We can give a small % of global population luxury. US QOL isn't sustainable on a global scale with the resources available in the world.
In my opinion, the whole population growth excuse is always an excuse and leads to dangerous results. The growth in population in Western countries has completely decimated since WW2. At this moment, only Africa is thought to have a positive growth number in the coming years. The population has grown, but the needs of almost the entire world have drastically increased. Leading to enormous growth in wealth and also productivity. That productivity has not been translated into less work, and the population increase has not translated into less work. Both of those things have translated into more wealth and more wealth inequality. Blaming the housing crisis/ financial crisis on too many people will only lead to racism, while the system keeps sucking everyone dry and making very few rich. There is plenty to go around, and the population growth is a story of the last century. We will reach our cap this century with all its effects to it.
This is wildly incorrect. Where the heck did you get this data from??
https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Total_Fertility_Rate_for_6_Regions_and_the_World,_1950-2100,_UN2022.svg#mw-jump-to-license
By the end of the century only Africa will have a fertility rate higher than 2. All the other continents have a lower rate than 2, meaning a decline in population.
Fertility rate is just one piece of the equation.
Infant mortality rate is off the charts in Africa compared to the majority of the world.
Average life expectancy is also much lower in most African nations compared to the places with low total fertility rate.
There's a lot more nuance than even just these two other pieces. Generalizing at a continent level is really poor. A typical metropolitan couple/family is going to have less kids than a rural family in the US where cost of living is lower and pressures from religion and family are higher.
When your neighbors, friends and family are holding off from kids to pursue higher socioeconomic standards there's pressure to live up to them or surpass them. When your neighbors, family and friends are having kids left and right you feel pressured to join them too. Just food for thought.