When researching degrowth, I find that nobody ever advocates for or predicts actual degrowth. They end up discussing no-growth, which of course is impossible to keep at precisely not going up or down. So sometimes instead of degrowth they advocate for very low growth, below 1%. But actual economic degrowth is too hard to discuss …
Category Archives: Countries
Japan: Drink More Alcohol
One of the reasons given is that they want more revenue from liquor tax, because in 2020 it declined by 10% ($813M). However, considering that it is a “sin tax”, intended to moderate consumption, that is hard to accept. The real reason is what everyone knows, young people are more likely to hook up if …
Japan Down 0.51% in One Year
That doesn’t sound like a lot, but there were 644,000 more deaths than births (assuming an immigration rate of zero). Every prefecture on mainland Japan saw a decline, so even internal migration was not a help anywhere. Elon Musk saw this news and his saying that Japan will disappear was widely spread. He seems to …
Bulgaria is Fading Fast
Nobody wants to be the poster child for population decline. Losing 11% in 10 years is serious. Enough for people to extrapolate that to think they could lose 100% in a century. Bulgaria’s population shrunk more than 11 percent over the past decade, according to its latest census, as the Eastern European country struggles to …
Desperation in China: Loans Offered
Jilin in northeast China is offering married couples bank loans of up to 200,000 yuan ($31,400) if they have kids, joining other provinces in the roll-out of financial incentives to overcome a declining population. Certain small businesses set up by couples with two or three children will also enjoy exemptions and cuts in value-added taxes, …
China Has Shadow-Banned Vasectomies
China is becoming increasingly desperate to reverse the decline in birth rates, which is now lower than that of Japan. Allowing people to have more than one child hasn’t been enough, because, as we have seen in other lands, once people get used to having fewer kids, it tends to become entrenched. It is quite …
U.S. Birthrate Declines
The U.S. birthrate has declined for the 6th year in a row, because of changing attitudes towards having children. Pew Research Center did a survey of 3,866 women aged 18-49 and men aged 18-59 and asked them: “Thinking about the future, how likely is it that you will have children someday?” In 2021, only 26 …
China’s Birthrate: New Low
Predictions for populations from places like the United Nations, don’t account for accelerating change, as we see in China currently. Latest inducements are not helping, and fewer people are marrying: Figures released by the country’s national bureau of statistics show there were 8.5 births per 1,000 people in 2020, the first time in decades that …
India: Below Replacement Rate
Most people would be surprised to know that in recent years India has only been slightly above the nominal replacement rate of 2.1 – and now it is below that: India’s most recent National Family Health Survey, which is conducted every five years by the Health Ministry, was released Wednesday and showed the total fertility rate …
China’s Plan – Group Weddings
In my opinion, China will one day shift from weak, ineffective attempts to increase fertility, to harsh, ineffective policies. I don’t think their way of running things is conducive to the gentle but nuanced encouragement that is required. For example: In Chongqing, one of China’s biggest cities, engaged couples will soon be eligible for a …