Global Population Problem 

The wolfs are worried the sheeps are not multiplying 😂

I spend $22,000 in childcare to get $600 tax credits. Elon Musk probably gets to write off his private jet 😂. And you want to know why folks aren’t having children?

Humans aren't stupid. We can do basic math.

Make transportation cheap. Make utilities cheap, make housing cheap. Make food cheap and people will have more kids.

Crash the cost of living down to what it was 50 years ago and you'd have plenty of people that would have 3 kids.

I am a 30 years old male, and with no property inherited working 40+ hours a week within hospitality and agriculture, as a lower middle class with a university diploma, i can't simply get to the numbers that would allow me to start up a family, hell even buy some decent clothes and take a gal for a dinner. Don't get me wrong this is not a whining, I do believe there is a way for everybody to accumulate enough capital and wealth at some point to start own business and buy own property, i just think it might be too late in the sense of one life span to start a family.

At 3:32 "people decide to spend their resources not on having more children, but on having more vacations or requiring yachts and McMansions." WHAT?! Only the uppermost income bracket are doing that! His answer comes off as really uneducated.

Because having babies is expensive? Housing.. milk powder.. child education.. nursery costs

Either the cost of living needs to come substantially down or the government needs to start cutting $20,000 annual checks to people per kid they have. Nobody is interested in setting themselves back economically to provide fresh workers.

Yeah i was gonna have a kid but then i bought a yacht.

World population is 8 billion now. World population at 6 billion - we were fine. World population at 4 billion - we were fine. World population at 2 billion - we were fine.

why is population decline a problem when technology including AI can automate much of of the work/activity and decline works well when it comes to limited resources … it may only impact companies who were betting on more people to get more profits

It’s not like humans or a country would go extinct if their population halved. At some point of population decline, the economics of having children will improve because their will be more resources spread across less people. Why must populations seek constant population growth? This talks about it being a problem but never explains why it’s a problem.

Corps are very worry, no more slaves for tomorrow..

I can remember in the 1970's and 1980's they were concerned with overpopulation , Just like they were predicting the coming Ice Age.

People are getting smarter. They are making informed and wise decisions. No one in their right mind should have children unless you are financially ready to cater for a child.

If we don’t know why population is falling how do know we did something that “fixed the problem”.

Why do we need 8 billion people?

wolves crying that sheep 🐏🐑 is not reproducing . stop providing pawns for the rich

A dear friend of an acquaintance of mine died this morning giving birth to twins, here in the USA where maternal deaths, especially among African American women, has been really high. As of this writing I do not knwo if the twins will survive. If the babies survive, her partner will be left with the task and expense of funeral, hospital bills, and child rearing. This may be another reason why many young women are choosing not to have children at all these days. 😨😰😢

I think I prefer robots and having a roof over my head.

Put immigration policy to a vote.

"So what happened? Why is it that we have the fertility rates going down in so many countries around the world?" "Well that's not the easiest question I've been asked today" How about women in the workplace, rising cost of living relative to wage growth (stagnant in real terms since the late 70s), high cost of housing or rent, high cost of childcare, high rates of divorce, there being many more ways to entertain yourself (or keep yourself mentally occupied) today than in the 90s, less societal pressure to marry and have children, high cost of raising children to age 18, mass immigration lowering wages and raising demand for housing, higher access to credit cards which puts people in high-interest debt quickly, higher and more insecure unemployment since the late 1970s or early 80s, globalism - global marketplace for talent. It's one of the easiest questions to ask if you look at how life's changed over the last 40 - 50 years, but those who benefitted well regardless of these changes obviously don't want to think about them. There's also those who never had to live through them due to when they were born, who live in denial about them even as they're now in their fifth decade of existence.

Price people out of owning or renting a property with mass immigration and its bound to hit the economy as it also impacts wages and peoples spending.

how many people is enough? 10 billion 1000 billion? guess the number cant go up forever

The real issue is we are running low on resources. Think about it. The Earth is a finite place with finite resources. Trees are renewable but we’re razing old growth forests and soon there will be no more, The Earth’s human population, however, is infinite. It will keep on growing and will depend on our fixed resources. We are currently siphoning off the waters of the Colorado River, for human use, so that it now never even reaches the Gulf of California, which it used to rush into. With the decimation of our old growth forests in South America and Oceana, the reduction of livable and farmable land, major flooding in low-lying cities and coastlines caused by rising ocean waters, and the decimation of animal and plant species in our oceans and on land, just to highlight a few current and looming adversities, it’s clear we are already well overpopulated and growing exponentially. We are eating and taking resources that mother nature cannot keep up with. Humans cuased overpopulation, pollution, burning fossil fuels, and deforestation. Changes like these have triggered climate change, soil erosion, poor air quality, and undrinkable water. We are the issue and not being mean but with the populations going down is fixing the issues.

Ppl are smarter now than before. They realize life isn’t all that great, no point in passing on the struggles to next generation.

He pointed to Canada as a country doing immigration right…. They’ve had a record increase in legal immigration which has led to a massive housing shortage and an over burdened public health sector, Canada is set this year to have its highest rate of Canadians emigrating to the United States bc of how tough it’s become to live in Canada, that was a weird country to reference lol

The population can’t drop fast enough for me. Can we make it to this coming drop? Time will tell.

Going to retire early but now I have two kids. I’ll be lucky if I retire at 65, kids are catastrophically bad financially

I live in new zealand and the cost of living does contribute to the mind set of most european new zealanders here. But most of the reason is just culture here. Most young new zealanders who are european new zealand descent usually move out and have nuclear families and so the cost of living is so much of a struggle for them. They also dont have many support networks such as grandparents living with them at home to care for any children they have and they find it strange to have a large family structure such as aunts and uncles helping out as well. But native Maori and pacific island cultures have maintained birthrate of above 2 and even 3. Some families still have many children because of an enormous familial style of living such as the fact that polynesian culture considers aunts and uncles to also be equal to the parents and so anyone that struggles is aided by them. Its also considered disrespectful to have elders go into homes unless theyre really sick, so usually you could find grandparents living in the same house so they can contribute their pensions and care for their children. Despite the average birthrate being around 1.6 or 1.7 for european new zealaders, these other ethnic groups with big familial structures and strong support networks are actually doing really well. Its only on the decline in new zealand since western culture and cost of living is affecting the change. Im an urban planner in new zealand and we have been doing a study on the population decline here to find trends. So it is quite interesting to see how despite expenses, culture plays a huge part in it.

My last hope for buying a home left when my aunt stole my inheritance.

The current economic system doesn't support having kids. But the world has too many people anyway. We should work to make it a better place for those already born instead of trying to have more miserable people on earth.

You can educate women or have enough kids - not both. Everywhere that's pushed women into education and careers fulltime is now suprised they don't have time to have kids.

Canadian GDP per capital is declining. Not sure the policy is one to follow.

It's why all Western countries are allowing unlimited immigrant migration. Experts are wrong and need to change policies to encourage raising children.

But if population decreases the stock market might go down :( /s

Feudalism leads to capitalism leads to fascism leads to totalitarianism leads to feudalism.

3:50 Bruh, because it's extremely EXPENSIVE due to increasing income but especially wealth inequality. The "conservative" wondering about the topic is absurd and laughable.

Sounds like the world is going back to where it started.

Canada is not a good example to hold up as an example of anything. GDP is not even in the top 30, no affordable housing, medical service chaos, highly educated leaving, wages static in terms of cost of living, no industrial spending due to overtaxing. Goes on and on. This reference is deeply flawed.

Is it really a problem, and for who? It's a way of nature. Species born and fade away. Now our time has come.

ferguson is stuck in an old economic idea that population growth is needed to increase productivity. in fact, in the future world populations are going to be a burden. few people the better it seems. unless we figure out a new model of wealth distribution or some method of people obtaining products without income, we are going to be screwed. more people is needed is only the dream of manufacturers and economists. in the real world people increasingly cant afford housing and necessaries. governments need to solve this first before pushing population expansion.

They seem to forget that we are using finite resources, for the better with less people

Yes, even though technology is more advanced we can't afford as many children as when we weren't as advanced. No one questions it either.

When Senator Tommy Tuberville stated "We need more kids" he wasn't talking about brown or black kids. Climate Change is not only causing extreme weather events but possiby decreasing human fertility rates which is why "IVF" is so important to Republicans whom are making abortions illegal in red states not for altruist reasons but to increase the population of non black and brown babies

If you hear closely, the worry is economic growth, but then again that's the focus that might have to change... specially with from now on dwindling fossil fuels our whole perspective will have to change. I'm almost sure we won't become extint, unless someone pushes the button.

Neil Ferguson is so far up his own arse for the last 10 years... just go away already mate.

Very good news, no need to just add consumers for gdp and numbers.

I think it's a good thing, way too many people in planet earth

There was a leader who gave $1m loans to married couples and wrote off $250k for every child they had. I forget who but i do remember his economy booming.

Greed is destroying the world...Take care.

The problem with the 2.1 population rate is that even if we did all have sustainment levels of children, the increased average lifespan means that we'd face social collapse and overpopulation. The need for housing would increase exponentially, further exasperating an overly inflated real estate market. Medical advances and technology means an easier life and allows for people to be productive much longer than they were before, but this chokes out the younger generations from being able to grow and flourish. Less real estate, less chance for advancement, all work to diminish the possibilities people have and with limited chances/choices it can lead to mental health issues with stress/anxiety/self-esteem. Coupling that with the fact that most mental tasks are handled by computers, ai, or machines, most skilled jobs are strictly related to mental fields which doesn't lead to a sense of accomplishment. It's a catch-22, we use technology to make people more capable, but they become reliant on technology so they are actually less capable, so we have to rely on technology to make them more capable.

Peacefool communities having soccer teams driving this hike more than anyone .

The quantity of humans does not matter as long as we have genetic diversity. Regarding labor, machines and robots will fill the gap. Humans will be left to creative and management tasks aided by advanced AI agents, which is fine for the continuation of the species.

How do you slow population growth without anyone even realising it? Empower women (even to the point of absurdity) but say it’s about equality. Also important to keep in mind is that as we fall back down to one billion people globally, the proportion of elderly is going to get larger and larger. I believe it should be about 1 young person to about 10 senior citizens by then, if not sooner. The whole planet is going to be one big nursing home. Unless a virus or something starts wiping out the elderly.

who is going to pay off the fiscal debt? If the people populations are decreasing the debt in the system will continue to compound and the economic growth will slow and certainly not be able to pay it off!! Not talk about WHY things are getting too expensive?!!

Those things from the 60's still apply, at least more people = more impact on the environment

Very informative talk. People are working too hard to make a living. Many people don't want to bring children into the world and live a similar life

Improving mechanisms for legal immigration of the skilled and talented could reduce the economic problem. However, efficient legal migration policies will NOT stem the flow of those whom the policies would not favor.

In the USA young adults can barely make a living for themselves. For many just getting out of their parents house is the goal not married with children. If the corporations and rich people want more workers in the future pay the workers today to have and raise them.

We have kind values, liberal values but at this time, we should close our borders to the USA because we have no logical screening for gangss, spies etc.. Keep work permits for highly educated or child medical humanitarian cases

So the Great Replacement isn’t a conspiracy theory, it’s government policy. Thanks for the info Niall!

Rats of Nihm

No shit! Life is for rich people now. 🤨

Canada is not smiling it all. Life is hard there.

Children farms plz

Pay people much more money to have children, that will solve the problem.

Population decline is a productivity (and military defense) problem. Disproportionate numbers of unemployed young males are a sociopolitical problem in less advantaged areas. In my opinion, the actual elephant in the room is declining populations in industrialized nations offset by contemporaneous Malthusian problems in contiguous geographic areas.

This guy is arguing that economic policies are not sufficient to raise birth rate. Sufficient or not, they are necessary.

Children are a labor, which is essentially an asset. As the world evolved, an uneducated labor became uncompetitive so a child's success became a project. Asset is an immediate wealth multiplier, project requires investment that not necessarily pays back. That's it. Successfully raising a child is like opening a business in a high entrance barrier industry. You simply cannot expect to see the growing number of business enteties as it gets higher. You either lower the barrier, or help with investment. Think about it, dear economists.

Abolish all taxes for all families with 4 or more kids. Having kids is so expensive.

Most of us are a product of the single mother boom. We dont know how to parent because we never grew up with it.

Declining birth rate ? Looks like a job for Nick Cannon...

It may be the case that the Chinese of China have a minimum number of kids, but the Chinese of where I come from in the UK -- with its NHS, state schools, social services . . . -- often have more than two kids, Mr Hoover Institution Senior Fellow :-)

Considering the exponential rise in childcare costs in Mumbai, India, Im better off without a child

This is almost trivial to demonstrate for anyone with a background in mathematics. Musk studied physics and is probably why he is one of the few public people concerned about it.

microplastics and nanoplastics have been discovered in both testes and ova... PFAS are ubiquitous... and are highly probable for infertility rates... the ecumenic inequalities also impact this decline, no question... Dr. Ferguson is brilliant and I recommend one to read all of his cogent, high-brow texts! Go Bloomberg!!!

World population declining from 10 billion to two billion? Gee weez, what a blessing! Global warming problem is solved!

The gene pool needs to stabilize itself. Not everybody is mentally and physically healthy to produce children nor will they be good parents who will take care of their children so that they can grow up into socially adept and productive citizens. Not every child is going to grow up to contribute to economic growth. To equate economic growth with population growth is a concept that only existed in the 20th century when industrialization was at its peak.

Spry for my ignorance, but can we do stake on Binance and Kucoin for example?

can opportunities be found on other smart chains like ETC or poly, or is the software only for binance smart chain

House to expensive for new family . Old rich people have 4 home As an investment. Increase house prices

If climate change is the worst problem, then why would anyone be worried about population decline? Surely, as population declines, pollution will as well? No?

Lowest rent for a 2 bedroom apartment in my area is 2300-3100. If you want to buy a condo then you're looking at 500,000 for a 1-2 bedroom. What do you expect from us? Baby Boomers own all the property and want to sell it for a million dollars. Human greed is directly responsible for this.

1/ Declining birth rates with homogeneous population and limited immigration is bad due to the national debts: we need a debt jubilee and big reduction in taxes to level out, otherwise the birth rates will continue to decline. 2/ Declining birth rates plus immigration from developed nations is a zero sum game. All developed nations have declining birth rates now, so if someone moves from one country to another it doesn't change the overall birth rate problem in developed nations. 3/ Declining birth rates plus immigration/illiegal immigration from poor nations is the probably the worst option. These will be low skilled migrants from poor countries. This will compress wages even further making it harder for the native population to have children. Plus more potential for crime/violence. Also if these illegal migrants claim benefits then that exasperates national debts even further.

Peak human population is ~ 9 billion and it is very true that the decline after peak will be exceptionally steep. The total population lost to the Four Horsemen will exceed the maximum human population during Malthus' lifetime and the cliff ain't done yet.

Greatstuff Mr Dave western. Worthy insights. Bravo, keep up the good work 🏁

Who takes on the effort and work needed to bring up children? I personally found being a Mum, was hard work, and although working part time had to manage the household on my own. My other point is, why is it just males discussing this topic?

There are very few incentives to have children. A $2000 tax credit is a joke when child care for little ones is more like 20,000. How about making kids a tax deduction? They will pay all the social security for everyone who didn't have kids, so why are only the people who choose to have kids be barring the expens for our society as a whole?

What happened? May be the ballsiest questions ever. You know what happened.

Starting a family can be costly. Extra curricular activities- soccer, karate, art, ceramics, endless birthday parties for all classmates gifts, shoes, braces, clothing, healthcare, pets, food, heating/ utilities, camps, gadgets, allowances. Gotta have a home close to schools!! Can only travel during school hols ++ expensive. Good chance (60%) r/ship falls apart. If so, court or mediation. House gone. Can result in massive depression and loss (debt). Child support. Regret only comes in the end. So choose wisely and use a crystal ball! Odds are not in your favour.

How does he not mention toxicity? All the pesticides and herbicides and Microplastics and Pfas? This is why 1 in 6 couples have trouble conceiving today. Jeremy Grantham is a million times smarter on this topic….

Most governments don’t interfere in family planning

Thanks for sharing the site bro, really helpful

This topic is getting a lot of discussion lately but always with this tinge of alarmism. Nobody seems to be discussing the fact that population growth is stalling at the same moment when AI and robotics are coming for jobs. Seems like population decline could be managed with the right policies.

Canada's immigration policy is about 'attracting talent?' LOL Niall's information is about 10 years out of date.

AFRICA PLEASE KEEP GOING!!!!!! DONT STOP!!!!!!

I'm gonna wait for the population to drop to 7 billion before I panic.

Because most people who can afford to have more children buy vehicles that fit only 4 people 😂