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Behind the world's falling birth rate(s) lies a fall in the number of people (seemingly) in relationships;

the retreat from coupledom has many causes (from social changes to social media) but looks to be (re)shaping the world.

The big Q. then becomes: if this continues, what does a world dominated by single people look like?

Or will this shift back as the young find the value of companionship again?

Much of our future may depend on these choices.

#politics

h/t John Burn-Murdoch/FT

@ChrisMayLA6 Whole thing is a non-issue nazis want to make an issue when what they really care about is relative population of their in-groups, not any actual civilizational need.

Globally I'm highly doubtful that birth rates have even declined, but in a society with reproductive & gender justice, it's expected that they naturally decline A LOT, and that's perfectly fine.

@dalias

Well, what the data show is that in most countries (outside Africa) rates have declined; and you're right this isn't too much of a problem in global environmental terms, but as we move to a rate that is below replacement there will be associated social shifts that may become quite problematic to navigate

Cassandrich

@ChrisMayLA6 Do you mean social or economic? There is utterly no plausible *social* downside to reduced or even zero birthrate.

If you mean economic in the sense of aging population depending on economic activities of younger people, then as long as the decline is only local not global, it's trivially solved by lifting limits on immigration and making immigration attractive. If a country refuses to do that, the problem is not birthrate decline but their shit immigration policy.

@dalias

Well, I actually think its both; as our population grows older (on average) certainly economic shifts will be taking place, but also social shifts around how we manage health & care our older population.... I think the main downside will be if such a change is accelerated, leaving little hope of re-engineering society to cope with such a demographic shift

@dalias @ChrisMayLA6 Minimal decline could still not be catastrophic if reasonable responses on consumption patterns and labor conditions were undertaken.

Which of course means it'll probably be a shitshow because we can't have reasonable things.