At the dawn of the 19th century, the world population hit a big milestone: 1 billion people.
Over the next 220 years, the number grew to eight times that, or the 8 billion people who live on the planet today, with half of the growth occurring since 1975.
This continuous climb in global population has been possible thanks to advancements in healthcare and nutrition. However, the UN forecasts that rapid growth will slow down—and may even stop entirely by 2100—because of falling fertility rates.
What does that mean for modern nation states conditioned to expect a constant influx of new citizens and labour to power their economies? And how can those changing economies adapt to a shrinking population?
Students - please use your own personal email address here as school emails block external messages.