> It is not obvious to me that the UK, for example, would not enjoy much higher standards of living if it had half the population. The problem is the transitio

> It is not obvious to me that the UK, for example, would not enjoy much higher standards of living if it had half the population. The problem is the transition to this lower population. You’d have a period of 40/50 years where older people severely outnumber those who are relatively young, leading to massive increase in per capita healthcare expenditures coupled with a decrease in productivity. So no, at least bot in our lifetimes.