world

Populations are rapidly decreasing in many countries.

The Japanese Ministry of Welfare and Labour announced in August last year that the number of children born in the first half of that year decreased by 3.1 percent as compared to the same period of the previous year. The Japanese media expressed concern that the circumstances show no sign of improvement although the authorities say they are taking measures.

Populations lessened by more than half in seven big cities of the US, including Pittsburgh and Detroit, as compared to the 1950s. Detroit has been counted as one of five large cities which might disappear from the earth due to serious population decline.

The number of births dropped to a record low in Finland in 2024. At that time, the statistics agency of the country said that the birth rate reached the lowest index since the start of the recording in 1776, adding that such tendency is pronounced in big cities in particular.

The number of births decreased by over 20 000 in Poland in the same year as against the previous year. It has reportedly reached a record low since the Second World War.

The birth rate has been very low in most of the European countries for the past decades.

A UN official asserted that the birth rate has lessened further than anticipated in some countries and it is more rapidly falling in some areas where it was high.

The birth rate has continued to decrease because people marry late or give up marriage and because even though they marry, women give birth to few or none.

The dropping birth rate has caused many problems.

According to a report on the prospect of population, the worldwide population increase will stop decades later and the population will continuously decrease thereafter.

One characteristic of such a population change is population aging.

A relevant organ of the UN said that people above 65 years of age worldwide increased from 5.5 percent to 10.2 percent of world population between 1974 and 2024. The rate is considered to increase by 20.7 percent during 50 years from 2024 to 2074.

Such a phenomenon has a negative effect on the socio-economic development of relevant countries.

Expressing concern over the decline in the birth rate, the UN warned that if such a situation continues, it might result in a world population crisis in the future.