Population Decline Is Most Serious Crisis Facing Humanity: Demographer

Population decline is “the most serious crisis humanity is facing” and could result in shrinking communities, intergenerational strife, and societal collapse, a data scientist and demographer has warned. Stephen J. Shaw told NTD’s “British Thought Leaders” that population decline is not only affecting Western developed nations, but represents a “worldwide existential problem” for which “there’s no known solution.” The data scientist, whose documentary “Birthgap” delves into the reasons behind falling global populations, said that while humanity is facing a number of crises, population decline is the most serious because no known civilisation has recovered from it. “In fact, there’s evidence that this is exactly how civilisations end,” Mr. Shaw said, detailing that the Roman Empire in its latter stages had put in place policies to try and increase birthrates including taxes on the childless....