How Population Falls

For the first time in human history, the global population is predicted to peak in sixty years time and then decline permanently. This shift began in the 1960s when worldwide birth rates started falling, and over half the world's population now has fertility rates below replacement level. Dorling argues that current demographic discussions are dominated by right-wing narratives that frame population decline as catastrophic. In contrast he argues this decline as potentially positive, especially given environmental constraints and the unsustainability of infinite growth. A shrinking population would challenge core assumptions about economic systems, housing markets, and growth-based economics.

When Population Falls begins by explaining where the fear of fewer people comes from and provides a progressive, optimistic framework for understanding demographic change in an era when such perspectives are largely absent from popular debate.