I think the population pyramid for most countries before WW1 and WW2 looked to be about the same shape. Here's Japan throughout the 20th century: https://commo

I think the population pyramid for most countries before WW1 and WW2 looked to be about the same shape. Here's Japan throughout the 20th century: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Japan_population_pyramids_1888-2019.gif https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Japan_population_pyr... France: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:France_Animated_Population_Pyramid.gif https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:France_Animated_Popu... I don't think they expected the population pyramid to turn out the way it did. People in the past worried about global overpopulation, I don't think they would've done that if they had had an idea that population would naturally cap itself out without anybody even doing anything. It's understandable why these systems were set-up, but some generation in the future (maybe us) will pay the price.