Should we be worried about population decline?
November 19, 2024
Highlights from the GZERO World with Ian Bremmer weekly television show.
How worried should we be about falling birth rates around the world? For years, experts have been sounding the alarm about overpopulation and the strain on global resources, so why is population decline necessarily a bad thing? On GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, demographic expert Jennifer Sciubba, President & CEO of the Population Reference Bureau, warns governments are “decades behind” in preparing for a future that’s certain to come: one where the global population starts decreasing and societies, on average, are much older.
Sciubba says that government policies are too focused on trying to get people to have more babies instead of adjusting their social and economic systems for an aging, smaller population. “If we're thinking geopolitically, who's likely to come out on top,” Sciubba predicts, “It'll be the countries who realize the fastest that they're not going to reverse these population trends and they instead build to deal with it.”
New digital episodes of GZERO World are released every Monday on YouTube. Don't miss an episode: subscribe to GZERO's YouTube channel and turn on notifications (🔔).
Every week on GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, Ian explains the key global stories of the moment, sits down for an in-depth conversation with the newsmakers and thought leaders shaping our world.
Watch GZERO World on US public television and on GZERO's YouTube channel. GZERO WORLD with Ian Bremmer is a local public television program presented by THIRTEEN PBS.
Keep up with what’s going on around the world - and why it matters.