If a countrys population stabilises or reduces, it becomes an ageing population. Don we need to raise birth rates and have more children to support an ageing population?
No. Falling birth rates are a solution, not a problem. If you have more children to support today’s 70-year-olds, you’ll have more 70-year-olds in 70 years time. Then what? Have yet more children? Then even more 70-year-olds? Constantly increasing the total population by adding greater numbers of younger people may alleviate short-term problems but simply creates faster long-term population growth. If you accept that world population cannot go on growing indefinitely, this argument has no logic. There will, however, be problems for a few already overpopulated countries with ‘hyper-ageing’ populations, such as Italy and Japan.
