Why does population decline considered as a bad thing?
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There are many factors involved.
There are examples like Japan, that has seen a rather rapid population decline now for more than a decade. Germany is probably in a similar situation. The advantage Japan has is that it was a well developed wealthy nation prior to the decline. The population is declining in what is hoped to be a relatively controlled fashion with sufficient national productivity and wealth to sustain it.
Then there are countries like the US. Although fertility is dropping, it is somewhat supplemented by immigration. So this appears to be eminently sustainable as they can maintain a reasonable balance of younger productive people as well as a larger older population. And the decline is expected to be very slow.
Then there are somewhat basket cases like Russia and very soon China. Neither are particularly wealthy per capita (large economies but also large population). The problem especially is the RATE of decline. And it appears to be far too quick meaning a very large older population supported by very few young people. This is uncharted territory – how can an economy support itself when there are so few productive adults supporting ever more retired people over the next 30-40 years.
Then there are the “in between” nations like a lot of Western Europe. Reasonably wealthy and declining but not super quickly. Smaller countries can offset aging by immigration but larger countries like Russia and China (and Japan) simply cannot do so either culturally or simply because the decline is too fast (China, for example, would have to get tens of millions of immigrants EVERY YEAR)
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