After the Baby Bust: The Politics and Ecology of Zero Population Growth

Having calmed down from overblown twentieth century fears of overpopulation, the world has yet to grapple with the end of population growth—and even de-population—that will occur this century.

Global population growth rates peaked in the 1970s, and if current trends continue, some countries could see their citizenries substantially depleted in the coming decades. As native populations in places like Germany and the United Kingdom dwindle, and are replaced by immigrants from rapidly growing countries in Africa and Asia, a surge in ethno-nationalism and cultural upheaval is already apparent.

What comes next depends on how governments and civil society address this radical new order of things. Regrettably, traditional social sciences and economics, which emerged precisely during the brief and anomalous period of high growth and surplus labor, are poorly equipped to forecast and address these inevitable changes.

View the live stream here.

View the archive in the Innovations in Medical Education Video Library here.

This event is co-sponsored by UW Population Health Sciences.