Does a smaller population not benefit everyone?
In: Planetary Science
In Japan almost 30% of the population are over 65. China is getting there and UK is about 25%. The proportion keeps going up and up. 10% of Japanese are over 80 – one in ten – and birth rates have plummeted
Lots of these older people lead great lives, but many suffer from chronic ill health or dementia and have to be looked after or receive ongoing health management. This is expensive, and it is hard politically in many countries to extract the funds from the old people themselves eg their money may be tied up in their house or their pension funds or politicians don’t want to lose the votes of their supporters.
And of course many older folk don’t have the funds or the family to provide the care themselves
So younger people have to pay the money and do the work, all the time struggling with their bills and a lack of available/affordable housing. So younger people do not have the time or the inclination or the finances to have children or larger families and the whole pyramid will become unstable one day.
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