Really interesting (and scary) article about the declining birth rate. They took a closer look at South Korea, which has a fertility rate of 0.72, which essentially means that a group of 100 South Koreans will have 5 grand kids. The author made observations about how a low birth rate can affect a city (in this case, Seoul).

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/03/03/the-population-implosion

 #Biohackers Connect

The End of Children

Biohackers Connect

Really interesting (and scary) article about the declining birth rate. They took a closer look at South Korea, which has a fertility rate of 0.72, which essentially means that a group of 100 South Koreans will have 5 grand kids. The author made observations about how a low birth rate can affect a city (in this case, Seoul).  https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/03/03/the-population-implosion   #Biohackers Connect

Tasia

Economically, one of the key issues is the dependency ratio, before the 50s it was about 4 in many countries ( https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/dependencyratio.asp ) because lots of people had lots of kids, then it dropped to about 1.8 when lots of people worked in the 70s-90s, then it started growing again because of people reaching old age, the issue is that the dependants now are unfortunately a lot more costly now (due to medical bills and carers) than raising children back in the 60s. 
As a result a lot of economies are struggling to take care of their elderly as well as they'd like, and also struggle to save enough money to start a family.

Why is it a bad thing? Could just be a correction, and then will swing back later

Nate

Economically, one of the key issues is the dependency ratio, before the 50s it was about 4 in many countries ( https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/dependencyratio.asp ) because lots of people had lots of kids, then it dropped to about 1.8 when lots of people worked in the 70s-90s, then it started growing again because of people reaching old age, the issue is that the dependants now are unfortunately a lot more costly now (due to medical bills and carers) than raising children back in the 60s.  As a result a lot of economies are struggling to take care of their elderly as well as they'd like, and also struggle to save enough money to start a family.

The dependency ratio is a demographic measure of the number of dependents to non-dependents in a given population.

What Is the Dependency Ratio, and How Do You Calculate It?

Sam Mendoza

some great eugenics in this thread, excellent!  

also someone quick throw a baby making party! 😆

some great eugenics in this thread, excellent!    also someone quick throw a baby making party! 😆

There’s a great #Sci-Fi Fans movie called 'Children of Men'. Which is a fictional movie but also really interesting in that it portrays a world where kids stop being born.

TLDR its sad 😢

 ##📺 MOViE & TV SHOW♥️

Sci-Fi Fans

#📺 MOViE & TV SHOW♥️

I think young people add a lot of excitement and new perspective!

I want us to live a long time and I also want kids to discover something new and weird and humble us

My hope for the future is that we all live and work way longer, reducing the need for offspring, with AI/robotics filling in any work gap. And if there’s a population gap we let some people have kids, OR we grow them from top tier DNA. Most people’s genetics suck lol, we don’t want those kids.

I don’t want some boomer future where I get old and stop working and leave all the money I made to my kids before I die because they’re my “legacy” 🤮

My hope for the future is that we all live and work way longer, reducing the need for offspring, with AI/robotics filling in any work gap. And if there’s a population gap we let some people have kids, OR we grow them from top tier DNA. Most people’s genetics suck lol, we don’t want those kids.  I don’t want some boomer future where I get old and stop working and leave all the money I made to my kids before I die because they’re my “legacy” 🤮

Bobby

I think young people add a lot of excitement and new perspective!  I want us to live a long time and I also want kids to discover something new and weird and humble us

There’s a great #Sci-Fi Fans movie called 'Children of Men'. Which is a fictional movie but also really interesting in that it portrays a world where kids stop being born.  TLDR its sad 😢   ##📺 MOViE & TV SHOW♥️

Cici Zhao

I believe these pros were cited when governments decades ago encouraged citizens to have fewer kids. It seems many countries over corrected. It’s all in the article

Tasia

A group of likeminded people in Biohackers Connect are talking about this.