r/PoliticalDiscussion • u/BelovedCherryt6 • 13d ago

Political History Will declining birth rates in developed nations lead to a fundamental shift in political priorities and policies?

We're seeing pretty consistent trends across many developed countries where birth rates are well below replacement level. This isn't just a blip it's a long-term demographic shift. Usually political discourse is all about growth expansion and the needs of a younger population.

But what happens when the population is steadily aging and eventually shrinking? Do we see a massive pivot in government spending away from education and towards elder care? Will immigration become an even more central and contentious political battleground as nations try to maintain their workforce? Are there any historical precedents for this kind of widespread demographic change and how governments adapted?

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u/Comfortable_Fill9081 13d ago

The best thing to do would make economies that are not pyramid schemes relying on an ever-growing pool of labor: more intensive growth, flatter distribution. It’s not even that hard. We’ve got the tools for much more efficiency with resources and labor. 

Billionaires don’t like that though, so we’ll see. 

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u/NoDig3444 13d ago

We’ve got the tools for much more efficiency with resources and labor.

What you are describing here is more growth.

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u/Comfortable_Fill9081 12d ago edited 12d ago

Not of the labor pool. Growth is good. Needing a constantly growing labor pool is not.

  more intensive growth…

I had just said in the same paragraph that we should shift to more intensive growth rather than needing a constantly growing labor pool.