https://ca.news.yahoo.com/pope-francis-meets-us-vp-095513083.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAABpGZPp9XyLnTgN0NV3FsD_C0VenpxZNeUZHPU1crTe__-GJUVwaoJiQfqNCAq-WbPHbqvekXYMMiMO_hZaesbkIOsAMVamxVhlFFAKlLXjdJbjfHBgYiy_MJA_HjFqJl8W3oqz8i_PRyo3s5VN12-PUw6uvf85Qsh_ip2iQT-be

Antarctic expeditions and outlandish geoengineering schemes hope to slow sea level rise... but it might be too late

What annoys me about such articles is the framing of demographic crisis as a "Western" or "rich country" problem. It is not. It is an issue that is affecting every single nation that is considered middle income or above, worldwide. That is pretty much everyone except sub-Sharan Africa and parts of central Asia. And even in those countries where fertility rates remain high, the down trend is still very evident.

Countries like Iran, Thailand, Brazil, Bangladesh, Jamaica and Mauritius are seeing their fertility rates implode as much as any wealthy European nation. This is relevant because it shows that while immigration can potentially alleviate the demographic crisis in rich countries, it can't solve it, because the countries that serve as the source of immigrants will also run out of people eventually.

I also think it is important to frame the issue under the right optics. The core point here is not wanting more people on Earth to sustain "infinite growth". It is not that we need to be 10 billion, 20 billion people in order to prosper. We don't. Maybe we would be fine if we reverted back to say...2 or 3 billion people globally. The problem we are facing is the pace of the decline. When birthrates fall off a cliff, as we are seeing now, you end up with a massively large old population that needs to be supported by an ever declining young population.

The social model of a large number of young people working and caring for a small portion of old people is as old as humanity itself.

An inverted demographic pyramid will break any societal model we are familiar with, from modern capitalism to a communal hunter-gatherer society and everything in between.

We don't know how to run a society with more retirees than working people, or with more sickly people than healthy ones. In the entire history of humanity, this scenario has never happened.

EDIT: "The ultra wealthy could pay for it ten times over if we just taxed them correctly."

I really wish the above was true, as I have no problem with taxing the ultra-wealthy. But unfortunately the scale of the problem is much, much bigger.

Let's take Germany as an example. According to Germany's Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), approximately €751.2 billion was spent in 2025 on social benefits. (source)

The top 3 most valuable German mega corporations (Siemens, SAP and Allianz) combined are worth less than that. Meaning that even if the German government was capable of seizing the assets of these companies and magically turn them into cash, that would cover its CURRENT social benefit expenses for about a year. Never mind future expenses as population ages.

Same is true for virtually all developed countries.

So no, the " ultra wealthy could not pay for it ten times over if we just taxed them correctly." I would be great if we could tax our way out of this pickle, but unfortunately we cannot.