Why is population collapse such a threat when we have 7 billion people?
In: 6
The problem is somewhat localized at the country level.
For example, in [Japan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Japan) not enough kids are born to replace the people who are dying, so the population is steadily shrinking, but there are still a lot of older Japanese alive, meaning the shortage is more towards the younger ages. The problem in Japan, then, is finding enough young people to do all the work it takes to run the country *and* take care of all those retired people.
In [Nigeria](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Nigeria), meanwhile, women are having 5 or 6 kids each. Nigeria has more kids than it needs. They could use some serious birth control.
Compare the population pyramids of [Japan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Japan#/media/File:Japan_Population_Pyramid.svg) and [Nigeria](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Nigeria#/media/File:Nigeria_single_age_population_pyramid_2020.png).
You might suggest that Japan just let in a bunch of young immigrants from places like Nigeria, but Japan doesn’t want lots of immigrants. If you aren’t genetically Japanese, you aren’t really Japanese as far as most Japanese are concerned.
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