China's Pending Depopulation

China's population is declining faster than any country in human history, and the nation is now on track to lose half of its population by the year 2050. This is what we call "depopulation," and it's a concerning trend that is going to completely upend the world as we know it today. Now, a lot of countries are going to be dealing with depopulation in the coming decades, like Japan, Italy, and Spain, to name a few.

But no one is going to have a harder time dealing with it than China, thanks to its authoritarian one-child policy, which has absolutely decimated the amount of young people living in the country. But what is the problem with depopulation exactly? Well, a few things. First, let's start with the obvious: depopulation means you have a dying society. As a country's population decreases, so too does its culture, its identity, and its ability or desire to make a positive impact on the world.

Second, depopulation has some serious financial consequences, as we're now seeing in Japan and will continue to see in China. A country that's not producing children will suffer significant economic decline and a decrease to everyone's standard of living. Since there won't be enough young people to work in companies, start new businesses, take risks, and come up with a fresh new idea to solve humanity's biggest problems.

Third, a population that is not producing young people will be unable to take care of its elderly and society's most vulnerable. Young people are the ones who generate the economic activity and wealth to pay for all of the social services that provide for the elderly and those in need.

Here in the US, Social Security was set up during an era in which there were 42 workers for every one retiree, and retirees had a life expectancy of only 65- the age in which they qualified for benefits.

But today, there are just three workers for every one retiree, and average life expectancy for Americans will soon hit about 80 years old. Still, America has it way better than countries like China or Japan, where they're going to have retiree populations that dwarf their working-age populations.

You see, much like the childless, middle-aged, neurotic cat lady, you run into what your local Whole Foods, a society that's not producing children is an unhappy, pessimistic, nihilistic, hellish place that offers no hope for the future.

So, the picture is pretty clear. If we want a better world, we should learn from China's terrible example and promote policies that actually incentivize families to have more children because there literally is no future without them.

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