>Should the population grow or shrink? I don't know There was a good paper in the Lancet covering some of the expected repercussions if population growth conti

>Should the population grow or shrink? I don't know There was a good paper in the Lancet covering some of the expected repercussions if population growth continues to decline throughout this century (as current trends indicate it will): https://www.thelancet.com/article/S0140-6736(20)30677-2/fulltext#%20 https://www.thelancet.com/article/S0140-6736(20)30677-2/full... Certainly society's economic balance is going to be drastically affected: "Although good for the environment, population decline and associated shifts in age structure in many nations might have other profound and often negative consequences. In 23 countries, including Japan, Thailand, Spain, and Ukraine, populations are expected to decline by 50% or more. Another 34 countries will probably decline by 25–50%, including China, with a forecasted 48·0% decline (95% UI −6·1% to 68·4%). Population percentage declines do not immediately convey the associated profound shifts in age structure in these nations. Our findings suggest that the ratio of the population older than 80 years to the population younger than 15 years will increase in countries with more than 25% population decline, from 0·16 today to 1·50 (0·54–3·25) in 2100. These population shifts have economic and fiscal consequences that will be extremely challenging."