General Article Encouraging population decline is pure defeatism

Topic Selected: Population Book Volume: 435

By Matthew Lesh

  • There’s ample evidence that as cities get more dense they become more innovative and productive
  • Lower birth rates and higher life expectancy will create a £250 billion hole in public finances by the mid-2070s  
  • Extolling the benefits of population decline is straight out of the anti-growth coalition playbook

A new academic paper arguing that a declining birth rate may actually boost living standards has grabbed some attention in recent days. Professor David Miles – who happens to be the chief forecaster for the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) – contends that ‘the economic impacts are likely, on balance, to be positive’ from falling populations.

Miles argues that a smaller population can increase the average quality of life because a higher population puts strains on limited public services, infrastructure and housing. A smaller population also means that less needs to be saved and invested, and more can be spent on consumption today.

This idea is superficia...

Would you like to see the rest of this article and all the other benefits that Issues Online can provide with?

Sign up now for a no obligation FREE TRIAL and view the entire collection