There are certainly theories where falling population is not a problem. (There's a theory for everything.) The question is whether those theories are right. One

There are certainly theories where falling population is not a problem. (There's a theory for everything.) The question is whether those theories are right. One issue for economic growth is that many modern theories claim that growth is driven by ideas and innovations. Fewer people might lead to fewer ideas and innovations. If so, then we will be poorer as a result. Here's a 2010 review suggesting population decline is no biggie: https://academic.oup.com/oxrep/article-abstract/26/4/583/453716 https://academic.oup.com/oxrep/article-abstract/26/4/583/453... Here's a recent paper on the topic: https://www.bde.es/f/webbde/INF/MenuHorizontal/SobreElBanco/Conferencias/2015/Archivos/26_1220B_BASSO_PAPER.pdf https://www.bde.es/f/webbde/INF/MenuHorizontal/SobreElBanco/... Update: here's a paper by Charles Jones. This might be better because (1) Charles Jones is rather famous growth economist and (2) it focuses specifically on population decline rather than population ageing. https://www.nber.org/papers/w26651 https://www.nber.org/papers/w26651