The tipping point: what happens when deaths outnumber births? - Guardian

An article in The Guardian yesterday notices the patterns we discuss on this blog and asks how society might adapt to an aging, shrinking population. In Japan, there are now companies that specialise in cleaning the apartments of elderly people who have died alone and gone undiscovered for weeks or months, while adult incontinence pads have outstripped nappy sales for more than a decade. In Italy, depopulating villages are selling homes for €1 to attract new residents and keep services running. In the UK, falling pupil numbers are already closing schools and classrooms in parts of London. ... Rather than trying to “fix” falling birthrates, policymakers should prepare for an older population – from rethinking how old age support is funded, to enabling people to remain in work for longer. “Simply telling people to have more babies is unlikely to work,” said Kuang. These changes may need to be far-reaching. As Harper, the author of the forthcoming book Ageing Societies: Risk and…