A shrinking world will turn our problems upside down

THE era of global depopulation is coming – and sooner than we once thought.

The United Nations has projected an 80 per cent probability that the number of people on Earth will peak in this century, then go into a decline, up from a 30 per cent probability a decade ago.

For one in four of us, that future is already here. A quarter of the people in the world live in countries where populations have already peaked, including China, Germany and Japan. Between now and 2054, the UN expects them to be joined by many others, including Brazil and Vietnam.