China's population growth has flatlined

[NickB79]

https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/17/economy/china-population-data-2021-intl-hnk/index.html

China's birth rate plummeted for a fifth consecutive year to hit a new record low in 2021, despite government efforts to encourage couples to have more children in the face of a looming demographic crisis.

The world's most populous country recorded 10.62 million births last year, or only 7.5 births per 1,000 people, according to China's National Bureau of Statistics — marking the lowest level since the founding of Communist China in 1949.

The number of births was just enough to outnumber deaths, with the population growing by 480,000 to 1.4126 billion. The natural growth rate fell to 0.034%, the lowest since China's great famine from 1959 to 1961, which killed tens of millions of people and led to a population decline.

It's becoming too expensive to have kids anymore. Good. 8 billion humans is more than enough.

[msfiddlestix]

1. I remember a time when Over Population was of serious concern..

I'm fine with a flat lined population in general.

[LisaM]

2. Yes, ZPG was a positive goal.

I still believe it's essential,. especially for the climate and for food global food supplies.

[msfiddlestix]

3. Exactly, and rather obvious. (sigh) n/t

[gratuitous]

4. There are several ways to limit or reverse population growth

"Voluntary" is by far the best way, though we've sabotaged ourselves with all the genocide of the past 500 or so years. I can't say I blame (for instance) the First Peoples for being suspicious about any attempts to limit their populations. But the other methods are remarkably bad: War, famine, and starvation. We're getting a little lesson in pestilence right now with Covid. Climate change is starting to crank up in earnest to limit our population.

[roamer65]

5. The best birth control method is monetary inflation.

Hat tip to the central banks.

[jcmaine72]

6. Not a bad thing by any stretch of the imagination.

In fact, the greatest gift humanity could give Mother Earth right now is two or three centuries of flatlined population growth.