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Overpopulation is not solved. Many African and Middle Eastern cultures continue to have half a dozen children per wife.

boczez 2mo ago
I don’t get this, doesn’t proof of an aging global population imply that overpopulation is solving itself? Also is it really that big of an issue? I’ve only heard bill gates talking about it, not sure what it’s got to do with that geezer tbh
- CodingJeebus 2mo ago
  > is it really that big of an issue? Yes, because the aging population increases healthcare spending to support them while the working age population shrinks, eroding the tax base. This is currently happening in Japan right now.
- matheusmoreira 2mo ago
  > Also is it really that big of an issue? It's a titanic issue. Old people are expensive. They tax the young to pay for themselves. Now the system is running out of young to tax. And that's the situation in rich and prosperous nations. I live in a developing country that has managed to be relatively poor and have a declining birth rate. It's so absurdly pathological it's not even funny. Symptoms include, for example, increased retirement ages. We will work well into our 70+ years of age, and we will be happy. Newer generations are already coping, they've already internalized the fact they will never actually retire. This is the stuff revolutions are made out of.
- chermi 2mo ago
  It depends on whether we take care of them at the cost we currently are in the west.
- missedthecue 2mo ago
  In the same way that a drought solves a flood. Technically yes, but it introduces an equally as dangerous and possibly worse problem.
palmotea 2mo ago
> Overpopulation is not solved. Many African and Middle Eastern cultures continue to have a dozen children per wife. It will be (eventually) when the worldwide birth rate drop below replacement. And it's close to that now: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.TFRT.IN https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.TFRT.IN.
- littlexsparkee 2mo ago
  Worldwide population keeps growing until ~2080, doesn't sound so urgent to me yet.
naravara 2mo ago
There are, like, two countries where TFR is even close to 6. And there’s about 20 where it’s higher than 4. And since those countries also tend to have sky high infant-mortality rates, the global average population growth rate is somewhere like 1-1.2% and dropping fast. Killing USAID probably put a drag on that slowdown by reducing access to family planning resources, but we’ll have to see exactly how much in the coming years.
dukeyukey 2mo ago
Not a single country has a fertility rate of 6 children per woman. And the highest middle eastern country is Yemen at 4.3. The next highest is Iraq at 3.1.
- dotancohen 2mo ago
  I just looked up recent numbers. - Niger: 6.7 births per woman - Somalia: 6.0 - Chad: 5.5 So it seems only Africa.
roysting 2mo ago
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I don’t get this, doesn’t proof of an aging global population imply that overpopulation is solving itself? Also is it really that big of an issue? I’ve only heard bill gates talking about it, not sure what it’s got to do with that geezer tbh

CodingJeebus 2mo ago
> is it really that big of an issue? Yes, because the aging population increases healthcare spending to support them while the working age population shrinks, eroding the tax base. This is currently happening in Japan right now.
matheusmoreira 2mo ago
> Also is it really that big of an issue? It's a titanic issue. Old people are expensive. They tax the young to pay for themselves. Now the system is running out of young to tax. And that's the situation in rich and prosperous nations. I live in a developing country that has managed to be relatively poor and have a declining birth rate. It's so absurdly pathological it's not even funny. Symptoms include, for example, increased retirement ages. We will work well into our 70+ years of age, and we will be happy. Newer generations are already coping, they've already internalized the fact they will never actually retire. This is the stuff revolutions are made out of.
chermi 2mo ago
It depends on whether we take care of them at the cost we currently are in the west.
missedthecue 2mo ago
In the same way that a drought solves a flood. Technically yes, but it introduces an equally as dangerous and possibly worse problem.

palmotea 2mo ago

> Overpopulation is not solved. Many African and Middle Eastern cultures continue to have a dozen children per wife. It will be (eventually) when the worldwide birth rate drop below replacement. And it's close to that now: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.TFRT.IN https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.TFRT.IN.

littlexsparkee 2mo ago
Worldwide population keeps growing until ~2080, doesn't sound so urgent to me yet.

naravara 2mo ago

There are, like, two countries where TFR is even close to 6. And there’s about 20 where it’s higher than 4. And since those countries also tend to have sky high infant-mortality rates, the global average population growth rate is somewhere like 1-1.2% and dropping fast. Killing USAID probably put a drag on that slowdown by reducing access to family planning resources, but we’ll have to see exactly how much in the coming years.

dukeyukey 2mo ago

Not a single country has a fertility rate of 6 children per woman. And the highest middle eastern country is Yemen at 4.3. The next highest is Iraq at 3.1.

dotancohen 2mo ago
I just looked up recent numbers. - Niger: 6.7 births per woman - Somalia: 6.0 - Chad: 5.5 So it seems only Africa.

roysting 2mo ago

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