Spoiler: Today’s blogpost has nothing to do with the Wuhan Flu. Sorry to disappoint… Almost a year ago I wrote a piece about the demographic problems that Hungary was facing. (Doesn’t time fly! I can remember writing this piece in our lounge after the kids had gone to bed – I was probably worried about some work […]
People over 60 are more affected by the coronavirus and most deaths have been of people over 70. With this background, a new study on perceptions of the elderly in the UK makes interesting reading. Attitudes to ageing are overwhelmingly negative, according to a new study by the Centre for Ageing Better, with older people subject to […]
Wednesday was the last day of comparative normality for a little while for us here in New Zealand. At midnight the “Level four” lockdown commenced. Those not working in essential services (healthcare, food supply chain etc) are meant to stay home for the next four weeks and only venture out into their local area to exercise and […]
President Putin moves to support traditional marriage by adding it to the Russian constitution and, predictably, the UK’s ‘impartial public service broadcaster’ paints it in as negative a light as possible. Apparently unable to accept that another country might hold different values from their own, the BBC insist it cannot be to do ‘with reflecting current values […]
As we usher in the 2020s with a coronavirus outbreak and massive wildfires, one feels tempted to make forecasts for the upcoming decade with a glimmer of hope amidst the gloom. However, when it comes to demographics for East Asia, there is no silver lining. Through comparing the present to what might happen in 2030 […]
This year is a big year for the USA. What happens in 2020 will shape the course of the country for years to come with far-reaching political and economic effects. Of course, I am talking about the decennial census which is being held this year. Although the official “Census Day” (I wonder if they make […]
When France won the 2018 FIFA World Cup, a running joke developed that it was the African Union that had actually won. This was a tongue-in-cheek reference to the fact that more than half of the French team was made up of players of African heritage. “Not all of those folks look like Gauls to […]
As you may have noticed, the last three years or so has seen the UK consumed with the ins and outs, the minutiae and meanderings of some little thing called Brexit. Now, it seems as if it has really happened, and the UK has actually left the EU. Of course there is still a long […]
The world’s major economies are being hit hard by demographic change. From China to Europe, they may well grow old before they grow any richer. Over the next three decades, the global number of older persons is projected to more than double, reaching over 1.5 billion persons in 2050. Currently, Eastern and South-Eastern Asia are home to the […]
It is incredible how rare babies are becoming in the Republic of Korea. In 2018, the country’s total fertility rate (the number of babies a woman will have on average in her lifetime) crashed down to 0.98. That’s far below the rate of 2.1 considered necessary for a stable population and is about the lowest […]
A couple of weeks ago we discussed different strategies that European countries are taking to increase their birth rates and thus their natural population growth. Most European countries have very low birth rates and are relying on migration to keep their populations from declining. Some countries have tried cash incentives or tax breaks for parents, others have […]
The demographic news from Italy remains bad. It has in fact got worse; so bad that the President, Sergio Mattarella, has recently described it as a “problem that concerns the existence of our country”. When the head of state of your country comes out and says that the lack of babies in your country is an existential […]