Empty Planet by Darrell Bricker and John Ibbitson

BOOK REVIEWS BY BINOD

BINOD’S RATING: 7/10

I half expected this to be an essay by fear mongers, but I was blown away by how rigorously researched & compelling this book was.

Most worry about overpopulation. The authors dive deep into the current & future trends of some population hotspots- India, China, Russia, Japan, Brazil & sub-Saharan Africa.

The stunning discovery? Birth rates are falling fast irrespective of region thx to rapid urbanization (children are more productive on a farm!), declining religiosity, rising cost of childcare & living & Women’s education & empowerment. The global pop may peak at 8.5 bln (& not 11 bln as per the UN).

But less humans is NOT good news. Fewer youngsters mean fewer taxpayers (who’ll fund pensions?), fewer home buyers (falling home prices) & fewer consumers (collapse in GDP growth).

Solution? You can’t “encourage” people to procreate on a long-term basis. The way out is immigration. China, Japan, India, S Korea etc. are xenophobic nations where immigration is almost unknown. Hence the US has a massive advantage & the 21st century may be another American century.

PS- Part 1 (a brief history of population) is the quickest ever recap of key events in the past 50,000 yrs. & full of fascinating trivia (like John Snow, the father of epidemiology).