Peak Humanity, House Prices and Why UK Pubs Are Vanishing
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Here’s a thought for the weekend. You are living in (or at least very close to) peak humanity. Populations in countries including Japan and China are actually shrinking, with China losing more than a million people a year net. At this rate, it will see its population halve by the end of the century.
Japan’s population fell by almost a million people last year and its government projects it will be down 40% by 2100. Across the sea in South Korea, the fertility rate is down to 0.72—that’s one third of what’s called the replacement rate (2.1 babies on average per woman). Fertility is also collapsing across Europe, and there’s even a baby bust underway in Latin America. Here in the UK, the fertility rate is down to 1.44.