Population Decline – Making the Best of Inevitable Destiny?

Abstract

Population decline confronts almost all the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Total world population may be declining before the end of this century. Despite that, it is a neglected topic in demography – its analysis and its consequences overshadowed by the problem of population ageing. This paper shows that population decline is a diverse phenomenon. The process of decline, and its end-product of smaller population size have different consequences. Modest rates of decline may be manageable and scarcely perceptible. Smaller population size may be irrelevant to most aspects of political, social and economic welfare and beneficial for environment and sustainability. In the future, adaptation to it may in any case become unavoidable.

Keywords: population decline, Central Europe, Eastern Europe, environment, sustainability, population ageing.