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The world's population is on the precipice of decline and possible extinction.        © Getty Images
The Big Story

The new population bomb

For the first time, humanity is on the verge of long-term decline

KAZUO YANASE, YOHEI MATSUO, EUGENE LANG and ERI SUGIURA, Nikkei staff writers | East Asia

TOKYO -- For the past 200 years, a rapidly rising population has consumed the earth's resources, ruined the environment, and started wars. But humanity is about to trade one population bomb for another, and now scientists and policymakers are waking up to a new reality: The world is on the precipice of decline, and possible extinction.

The twin forces of economic development and women's empowerment are combining to end the age brought on by the Industrial Revolution, in which economic growth was buoyed by a growing population, and vice versa. Since the early 19th century, the rising tide of humanity has provoked many dire predictions: English economist Thomas Malthus argued as early as 1798 that population would grow so fast it would outstrip food production and lead to famine. In 1972, the Club of Rome warned that humanity would reach the "limits to growth" within 100 years, driven by a relentless rise in the global population and environmental pollution.

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