logo
episode-header-image
Oct 2023
10m 44s

The truth about human population decline...

TED
About this episode
With birth rates falling, the worldwide human population is getting older and smaller. According to traditional thinking, this spells a future of labor shortages, bankrupt social security systems and overall economic collapse. Before you panic about the end of life as we know it, political demographer Jennifer D. Sciubba has a thoughtful playbook for managing the new normal – including ideas on the future of work and migration – and a reminder that a resilient future relies on present-day action.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Up next
Today
The digital detectives preserving the truth of war | Hadi Al Khatib
A lot of today’s war footage is shot on phones and posted to platforms that were never meant to permanently store it. Digital archivist and TED Fellow Hadi Al Khatib founded Mnemonic to save these photos and videos before they vanish. Learn how his team is turning people’s social ... Show More
42m 28s
Yesterday
Could this ancient Greek idea make us better citizens? | Scott Reich
More than 2,000 years ago in ancient Athens, young citizens were required to complete “ephebeia,” a two-year civic service program that taught them the laws of the city and how to defend their democracy. Author and historian Scott Reich believes this practice reflects something c ... Show More
12m 9s
Nov 12
How we’ll actually ditch fossil fuels — by the numbers | Michael Liebreich
Have you heard the clean energy transition is failing? Energy analyst Michael Liebreich says to look again. Using a four-line spreadsheet model of the global energy system, he shows why fossil fuels will inevitably get squeezed out over time — with no bans required. The shift is ... Show More
14m 35s
Recommended Episodes
Jan 2024
The truth about human population decline | Jennifer D. Sciubba
With birth rates falling, the worldwide human population is getting older and smaller. According to traditional thinking, this spells a future of labor shortages, bankrupt social security systems and overall economic collapse. Before you panic about the end of life as we know it, ... Show More
12m 36s
Mar 2024
Birthrates Are Plummeting Worldwide. Why?
<p>For a long time, the story about the world’s population was that it was growing too quickly. There were going to be too many humans, not enough resources, and that spelled disaster. But now the script has flipped. Fertility rates have declined dramatically, from about five chi ... Show More
1 h
Oct 2024
Why Paying People to Have Babies is a Billion-Dollar Mistake
Overpopulation has been our biggest fear for decades, but now, shrinking populations are the real crisis. From aging societies to dwindling birth rates, countries worldwide are grappling with the risks of a declining population and struggling with radical measures to reverse it. ... Show More
15m 45s
Sep 2025
Honey, we shrunk the kids: population fall
Falling fertility makes a global decline in population inevitable. That will change the shape and make up of societies. But it may not make us poorer. Are large language models really woke? And reading is on the wane – and why that matters. Listen to what matters most, from globa ... Show More
23m 46s
Sep 2025
Honey, we shrunk the kids: population fall
Falling fertility makes a global decline in population inevitable. That will change the shape and make up of societies. But it may not make us poorer. Are large language models really woke? And reading is on the wane – and why that matters. Listen to what matters most, from globa ... Show More
23m 46s
Feb 2023
How to adapt for an ageing world, with Vegard Skirbekk
Following the Japanese prime minister Kishida Fumio's recent warning that his country's demographic crisis was approaching a tipping point, Katie Stallard speaks to Vegard Skirbekk, a population economist at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health and author of Decline and Prosp ... Show More
20m 44s
May 2022
The Power of Population Change — with Dr. Jennifer Sciubba
Dr. Jennifer Sciubba, an internationally recognized expert in the field of demographic security, and author of “8 Billion and Counting: How Sex, Death, and Migration Shape Our World,” joins Scott to discuss all sorts of topics regarding population growth and migration policies as ... Show More
41m 12s
Jun 2023
Not born yesterday: the world’s ageing population
<p>Fertility rates are falling to worrying levels, and an <a href="https://www.economist.com/leaders/2023/06/01/global-fertility-has-collapsed-with-profound-economic-consequences?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.conten ... Show More
26m 10s