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We could increase population growth if we increase longevity and health of the population to compensate for lower birthrate, while saving money on medical expen
by kiba 6y ago
We could increase population growth if we increase longevity and health of the population to compensate for lower birthrate, while saving money on medical expenses.
- pcurve 6y agoYou can't cheat the math though. 2 people need to give birth to 2 kids to break even. (2.1 actually).
- gpm 6y agoYou can't, to be charitable I would assume that they are doing their math in kids/(person years) instead of kids/person.
- sir_bearington 6y agoThis actually exacerbates the problem of lower birth rates. Longer life expectancy mean an even greater portion of the population is non-working and dependent on the shrinking share of working-age people. If people worked a greater portion of their lifespan that could compensate for lower birthrates but increasing retirement ages is extremely unpopular.
- gpm 6y agoI would interpret "longevity and health" not just to mean increased life expectancy but to also mean increased time until you are infirm. This expands the percentage of your life that you produce more than you consume (i.e. 20 to when you become infirm for the average person), and decreases the percentage of your productivity that goes towards raising children (since you have more overall productivity but roughly the same amount goes to raising kids).