Ani O'Brien: The crisis no one is talking about - Population Collapse

Our birth rate is in free fall, our population is ageing fast, and immigration is the only thing keeping the lights on.

Of all the crises we argue are confronting our world (climate change, artificial intelligence, political instability, war etc) the one most likely to shape the fate of our species is the one no one wants to talk about. It won’t arrive with smoke or sirens, but with silence. Fewer cries in maternity wards. Empty classrooms. Dying small towns. And backs turned as aged populations suffer in societies unable to care for them.