5 ms·
> people died, a lot As always, as many people die, as are born :). We got better at hiding the fact - by letting people die in hospitals, in homes for elderl
by muro 7y ago
> people died, a lot
As always, as many people die, as are born :).
We got better at hiding the fact - by letting people die in hospitals, in homes for elderly (western world) just so it's out of sight and we are less reminded of death. On average, people live longer, yet it's not that they die "less".
- lolc 7y agoOne can only lose two parents, but one can lose a lot of children! If we have a stable population, then a higher child mortality means a higher absolute death rate. If the population is growing, the situation is even more pronounced!
- pjc50 7y agoIndeed. The 20th century saw a lot of populations adopt anti-mortality programs before contraception. The population quadrupled in a century. Far more people were born than died!
- kps 7y agoA hundred years ago, 98% of all people were dead. Today it's only 93%. With some effort, we should be able to reduce that further.
- tathougies 7y ago> On average, people live longer, yet it's not that they die "less". Yes, they do. Previous generations had more children. The higher birth rate did not yield a higher population growth rate, in part because the death rate was also higher. If we had death rates approaching the past, without a similar increase in birth rate, we would be in steep population decline, not the low population growth or slight population decline that most developed countries find themselves in today.