What do you think life in the UK will be like 30 years from now?

[Blancmangemouse]

The year is 2053. I will hopefully be about to retire. What do you think life will be like?

I remember in my teenage years I became irrationally convinced I would die at 25. I remember reading that young people inexperienced with life can feel this way because they just can’t picture their future selves in an adult world which is unknown to them.

Now mid 30s I am getting similar feelings and it could be because the future seems so uncertain. AI, Climate Crisis, World Powers shifting- etc etc.

So what do you think 2053 will realistically look like?

Noted, but I personally believe choosing to not have children because their lives will be very difficult is not small and defeatist, I believe it is compassionate and smart. So we’ll have to agree to disagree. However, people who are determined to procreate will do so, regardless of personal or global circumstances.

People who are 'determined to procreate' will keep the human race going. I understand that some people want the human race to die out but I don't.

For me the next 30+ years will either see humanity beging to pull together to innovate and invent itself out the hole it has dug itself, or, more likely be engaging in various conflicts of resources.

We already know many of our key resources are finite and that climate change is going to increase the stress put on many of these by orders of magnitude.

Take water as an example, the most fundamental resource for human life. If consumption habits don't change it's predicted that 5 billion people will face severe water shortages each year by 2040-2050. You only have to look at how people react when it is suggested they cut down on meat or travel, image what will happen when they simply cannot irrigate their crops or find something to drink.

i seriously doubt humans will die out, but human population control - especially in light of increasing climate-change caused decline of vital resources such as food and water - seems like a really good idea. Though everyone who considers human overpopulation a blessing will likely disagree.

I'm optimistic. In my lifetime there have been endless dire predictions for the future - nuclear proliferation, taking a tablet instead of food, ozone layer - some plausible, some quite mad with hindsight - but in the end nobody wants that to happen and people pull together to make sure that it doesn't. Society is better now than it was 50, 100, 200 years ago and I expect improvements will continue.

I think in 30 years, the waters around the UK will be mined to prevent unauthorised entry, and we will be surviving while large parts of the planet burn.

There will be huge global instability, as whole populations start to try to migrate to northern Europe.

There will be problems with flooding and extreme weather in the UK, but it will become a normal part of life.

There will be food shortages and a lack workers to care for the aging population. Life expectancy will fall dramatically. But - I think life will carry on in a recognisable way in the UK, while the rest of the planet suffers and rearranges itself. We will be sad at the tragedies unfolding, while doing nothing to help.

I’ve just watched ‘From the Vault’ with Guy Garvey from 1995.

Dirsnt seem much different to now. Nothing looks massively dated either. I think we’ll be pretty much like now but with more AI and AR.

A lot has changed since 1995 - including the fact that we can stream old TV shows over the internet! The OP proposed a peep 50 years into the future - that means looking back to 1973 for comparison. Nearly everything's changed since then, although I'm now buying clothes that are (larger versions of) what I wore that year!

With the pace of change speeding up, 50 years ahead should be more like the difference between now and 1953.

This has been the most depressing thread I've read on mumsnet in years. I hope we can return to it in 2053 and things be...not so shit

I think life expectancy will be lower, and fewer people will have children. Both good things, in my opinion.

Aside from that I’m disappointed that the jet packs we should all be flying about on by now still haven’t materialised. Nice one @TomorrowsWorld

Nearly everything's changed since then, although I'm now buying clothes that are (larger versions of) what I wore that year!

Schools still follow similar timetables and timing.
People still want their own houses and cars
Prople still go on holidays or want to go
People still go to wotk
People still shop and buy food
Prople still get unwell and need medical care.

So ‘everything’s changed’ but some things haven’t at all.

With the pace of change speeding up, 50 years ahead should be more like the difference between now and 1953.

I've read speculation that the pace of change might well be slowing a speculated side affect of population aging. Despite our cultures depiction of influential scientists and engineers being old many breakthroughs happen in 20/30 early in careers and it's just the accolades don't start till they are old.

I'm not saying in any way that older people don't use tech or can't make breakthroughs or huge contributions to society - I'm just pointing out that there is speculation that aging populations become more risk adverse - not individuals but on population level - so the pace of change may actually in west at least slow down though I image need driven changes like for climate may actually speed up.

Are there people who consider human overpopulation a blessing?

Contrary to what you believe, a sudden drop in population is not a good thing as it means there are many more older people than younger.

I find it interesting that you think the human race won't die out, given your opinions on having children. Is it the case that you expect other people to keep the population going while you just opt out?

I'm not sure we are looking at an "ageing population" crisis or even an overpopulation. These scare stories mostly overlook the fact that people die of old age.

Charts from the UK. World population evaluation's more complicated because the largest areas are still having lots of babies to compensate for frequent child mortality, plus wars & natural disasters culling populations on grand scale.

UK: 1960s baby boomers are now reaching their sixties. Mortality has been increasing since 2011, even without the Covid-19 spike. Birth rates are on the up from an extreme low in 2019, but nowhere near enough to replace the dying oldsters.

I don't really understand your post - a lot of research has indicated that there will be a population imbalance in favour of older people - in the linked article below it calls the population decline 'jaw-dropping' and 'extraordinary' with such impact that 'we'll have reorganise societies.'

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-53409521

That's quite an old article though -has the data/viewpoint changed since?

Yes, there are indeed people who feel the more humans, the better. They cite statistics about how the entire human population would barely fill up one small country, if you stood them side by side. While completely disregarding that overpopulation exists when the numbers of a species overtax - or destroy - available resources. Which is our current condition.

There wont be a sudden drop in population unless we experience major disasters which suddenly wipe out huge numbers of humans. It will likely be gradual.

As for an aging population, I am part of that segment at 61. I believe we need to look at quality of life vs. preserving life at any cost. For myself, I would not want to be warehoused while being bed-ridden, wearing diapers, and mentally feeble. I suspect many others feel the same and those of us who do should be allowed to make legal advance euthanasia decisions/directives while we are still mentally competent.

No, I don’t expect anyone to keep the population going, I am merely realistic enough to acknowledge that people who are determined to have kids will have kids, regardless of their personal circumstances, or the climate change/global situation. There are still many who don’t just have 1 or 2 kids, they have 3 or 4, just because that is what they want.

Have you ever seen that Star Treck episode in the original series 3 on this subject

@TheDailyCarbunkle (I like your nickname), the study you linked to looks ahead to the year 2100. I think their forecasts are off. At the most basic level, this is why:

In the years 2000 - 2021, in the UK,
13.1 million people died
16.4 million people were born.
The net population increased by 3.3 million (crude figures).

Now those babies will be at least 80 by 2021, and probably half of them will be dead. Maybe more, as life expectancy here is reducing.

The question of whether there will be enough younger adults to support the elderly survivors is unknown; those people haven't been born yet.

Studies like this tend to assume birth rates will continue to decline. But there's no reason why they would - people will still want children, and the past couple of years have shown an uptick. The 16 million people born in the last 21 years will have had children, be grandparents & great-grandparents.

Declining birth rates aren't due to any pervasive health problem, it's purely socio-economic. If this thread's doom predictions come true, perhaps nobody will be wanting children - but if we're adopting general doom all around, it hardly matters as we're all going to die prematurely! If life muddles along, people will find ways to have kids and keep them healthy enough to have some of their own.

I just think it's an unreasonable assumption. I have a mean suspicion that the big problem of too many old people is being over-egged because our elderly are increasingly seen as a useless waste of money, nudging public opinion towards euthanasia (hello, Canada).

those babies will be at least 80 by 2021 2100.

I don't really understand the logic of having ever more humans to look after the existing humans that are increasing in numbers and life expectancy decade on decade. Where do we stop? There's far too many people on this planet already and we'd be fucked if a large proportion didn't live in poverty and instead actually owned cars and 'consumed' to the same level most of us do.

Yeah, the thing with the ozone layer is that we got our act together and banned CFCs. It's actually a good example of positive action being taken.

It also didn't lead to any major changes to our lives. Doing something about climate change on the other hand...

Until America/China sign up it's going to be like pissing in the wind.

Maybe, but everyone else getting on board might put pressure on them to follow suit.

And frankly it's better to try and then fail rather than doom our children/grandchildren because we want the US and China to go first.

UK will still exist.
Scotland, Wales and NI will still be part of it despite various referendums.

The complaining from certain quarters will continue unabated.

The Guardian will still be prophesying the UK's imminent demise.