A journal about the post-growth future. Five recent posts {{ posts|limit:5 }}...
Here is a video report from ABC (Australia) Foreign Correspondent about the plight of villages in the rural Arcadia region of Greece. Greece is a highly urbanized country. Nearly half of Greece's population lives in and around the capital, Athens. The economic crisis accelerated this trend towards urbanization. In some ways Greece never really recovered from austerity measures taken during the…
This blog began in May 2025, with a Financial Times video about Japan's demographic crisis. Now, slightly more than one year later, we come full circle with another report from Japan . Japan does not have the lowest birth rate in the world, but has been dealing with this issue longer than most and several post-growth phenomena are visible there. Japan is a harbinger of the demographic headwinds…
[UVM President Marlene Tromp] points to the nationwide trend of declining demographics and, due to new federal policies, fewer international students. And since there are fewer, the ones applying to UVM are now getting accepted into schools they wouldn’t get into before. “So, they’re reaching for students that would ordinarily come to us,” Tromp said. She says the decline comes as they are…
An article in The Guardian yesterday notices the patterns we discuss on this blog and asks how society might adapt to an aging, shrinking population. In Japan, there are now companies that specialise in cleaning the apartments of elderly people who have died alone and gone undiscovered for weeks or months, while adult incontinence pads have outstripped nappy sales for more than a decade. In Italy,…
For some time I have looked for a book which would properly "game out" the future in a shrinking world. There are some terms that are stated frequently without elaboration -- such as "permanent recession." What would that look like? What problems would society face? And more importantly, how could we adapt? In many ways, The Age of Decay by Shamil Ismail the book I've been looking for. During the…
This data 1 , from Sarah Eckhardt and Adam Ozimek, would suggest yes. When a community is shrinking locals know it and feel it in their daily lives. The data show that local perceptions match demographic reality. Eighteen percent of respondents living in counties that lost population between 2010 and 2020 identified population loss as being a major problem for their community, versus 10 percent of…
In the developed world there has been a decline in rates of relationship and family formation among adults. More young people than ever are single with no children and no plans for them. These single adults work, live, shop, and worship differently than their 'attached' peers. Despite this, society as a whole has not adapted to this new demographic reality. Single adults are often forced out of…
One of the truisms of this blog is that the effects of population decline will be seen unevenly throughout the world. Perhaps it is a corollary that some of these post-growth effects will be seen even in places where the population is rising. Superstar cities, with their infrastructure and amenities, will be able to attract a working-age population even as the national population continues to…
This post examines Appalachia, particularly Eastern KY and Southern WV - the counties which have experienced some of the steepest population declines in the United States. This is a consequence of the collapse of the coal industry which once dominated these areas. As is often the case the loss of this single industry caused an economic crisis, which devastated the tax base, limited the ability to…
When a community is in the later stages of population collapse it is often unable to find skilled labor for critical roles. They are forced to spend more of their limited resources recruiting qualified people. The tiny Spanish village of Arenillas is one such example. It is home to just 40 people and is seeking a stonemason with a family. The job offer comes with free housing and ownership of the…