Concerned about depopulation

[Shawlshare]

AIBU to think the threat of depopulation is being massively underestimated in the UK?

I am early 50s, 3 kids and have lots of friends, young professionals in their 30s involved in the same hobby as me and nobody is having kids. Nobody wants them. People can’t afford accommodation big enough for kids, cannot afford childcare and find day to day life trying to stay ahead of the cost of living crisis tiring enough. They want to spend the weekend doing what they want to do, which is fair enough, but the UK will rapidly become extinct if this goes on for long.

South Korea is likely to become extinct as a country within 4 generations do to similar issues. I can see the UK going the same way. It’s scary and sad. I can’t see it reversing though as any hint of free childcare / flexible working etc etc is politically unpopular with so many. Anyone else concerned? What’s the solution?

UK population is growing, at around 1% per annum, largely driven by immigration. So I don't think there's a risk of "depopulation" anytime soon.

YABU depopulation is necessary to fit the resources available to feed and house people in this country, as well as useful job availability.

We import too much food and this is only getting worse with the lack of focus on farming/land management.

It will be hard to get through a reducing population and the older community will need to provide a large portion of their wealth to help themselves. Technology should also play a part in their care provision. Inevitably there will be less provision available for them so they will see a reduced standard of living/longevity.

South Korea, Japan and many other nations are looking at various solutions to this - the FT did quite an interesting report on Japan 2025 and how they are managing,

I don't think it is scary or sad. People are choosing the life they want. That's wonderful.

I’m not sure to what extent the immigrants boosting our population are covering the costs of themselves and their sometimes extensive families with the taxes they pay though? Specific immigration can cover costs, but many immigrants don’t. And I’m no racist, just a pragmatist.

There are FAR too many people in the world, a little bit of depopulation is needed. I don't care whether it's Britain or Bangladesh.

Can't see any problems me
The human race needs to die out.

The world population is exploding at an alarming rate. Now that is a cause for concern.

This

World is horrendously overpopulated

can't believe anyone worries about depopulation!

We've already reached earth overshoot day, the planet cannot support the over 8 billion humans and their demand for resources.
I'm blissfully childfree.
There'll be millions of climate refugees in the upcoming decades.

I can’t see a single disadvantage to the human population reducing in numbers by just not reproducing as much

It's quite complex to understand the economics of migration but the general rule of thumb across various studies is that immigrants to the UK tend to add about 10% more to the economy in taxes and they takeout in services and are more economically impactful than UK residents on average.

Depends where you live.

Where I am, in a deprived shithole in the Midlands, it’s children everywhere. So many families my children go to school with have 3 or 4 (or more) children.

Not a lot of people work, they don’t seem to worry about cramming them into houses. So all the children are up this way!

I think we're going to have to find a way of caring and housing the elderly in the future with the birthrate here dropping. That said I'm not remotely sad at the idea of our population stabilising . Why does everyone need to reproduce ? It's good to have a choice.

I think water is going to be in very short supply if the population did keep increasing and really we're just turning the planet into one big landfill so I have no issues with the birthrate calming down. Sounds good for us all.

Yes, I think it’s something that isn’t being discussed while a very clear crisis.

The birth rate is decreasing rapidly. Many countries face the same challenge.

My theories are:

• The increase in the cost of living - having a big enough house etc.
• People want a certain quality of life, and having less children means this is more attainable. This is short term (eg holidays) but also long term (eg house deposits)
• That is just really difficult to both work full time and have lots of kids - so not desirable

All of these points are quite difficult to overcome with policy.

I think it's fair to be concerned that our entire culture will be wiped out within a handful of generations. However, it's inevitable. We're in decline as a civilisation and change is a comin' no matter what we do. The people having millions of babies in Sub-Saharan Africa will ultimately become the prevailing culture and will need somewhere to live that's not been fucked by global warming. There's nothing we can do about it.

Well nothing is stopping you having 5 babies

The human race as a whole, but what about you and your future? If the uk population has halved in the next 20 years - as it is expected to do in South Korea, that’s a city with only half the people living in it that there are now, your street half full, a tiny working population’s taxes trying to support a massive retired population. Half the chance of getting a GP appointment that you have now as there are far fewer working medics for a larger retired population. And all western societies are going the same way. It’s not just about how much water there is to go around, or how much food we have to import. It’s far more structural than that.

I would be sad if the uk effectively depopulated, losing the culture of Wales, Scotland and England among others. We fought hard to retain/regain Welsh culture. If we are all replaced with immigrants who don’t value that culture it will be lost.

In the same way, I wouldn’t want the cultures of other countries to be lost.
No need to rush to homogeneity.

It's part of the demographic transition. Population explodes during the transition from developing to developed country. Then peaks and starts to decline.

Of course it is offset by immigration in the UK but without that it would be a decreasing population like Japan is experiencing.

Global population will peak in the next 50 to 100 years and then start to decline.

I don’t think it’s inevitable our culture will be wiped out.

I think the current model of ‘let’s not help people have kids, but just import more immigrants’ could create that situation, to some degree.

People are realising having children is an option not an expectation. That's a good thing.

Population growth is basically a human Ponzi scheme, which eventually runs out of babies.

If comments I see on social media are anything to go by, the attitude is "You chose to have kids. Don't expect any support with that." So I don't blame people for thinking "OK I won't have them then"

This is what I would expect, interesting that it is confirmed by studies.

Compared with the British population, immigrants are more likely to be of working age and healthy, rather than a child/elderly/in poor health and unable to work.

Also, people who have the energy and drive to move countries are more likely to be capable, hard working and ambitious. Not universally of course but in general.

I know how it will affect me personally.

I will work longer than my parents (by quite a margin)

I will likely die younger than my parents without my years of ill health being dragged out to a ridiculous degree. If assisted dying is available, I will make use of that or ensure that an advanced directive is made for if I lose capacity than does not allow any life prolonging care (and I will include antibiotics and IV fluids in that)

I think that is better than expecting the young to cripple themselves to keep me going.