Demographics

Edouard Gaudot looks for the sweet spot between opposing extremes.

If certain forecasts are to be believed, Africa’s population growth augurs a future of war and societal collapse. But for some governments and NGOs, the “youth bulge” driving growth could, if instrumentalised through neoliberal processes, generate huge economic dividends. Missing from the conversation are the voices and aspirations of young Africans themselves. 

Amid stubbornly low birth rates, Polish women are bearing the brunt of public pressure for the country’s population panic.

Fanni Svégel on attempts to engineer a baby boom that never came – and their harmful effects on women.

Demographic trends cannot be reversed – only navigated. Can societies guarantee wellbeing as the labour force shrinks and fiscal pressures mount? And as older cohorts outnumber the young, is intergenerational conflict inevitable?