These Six Countries Are Running Out of People

Key points

• 0:21

  Germany urbanized quickly because competing regions could easily set up nodes once electricity and rail arrived.

• 0:21

  Japan's rugged topography forced people to move into high-rises as soon as technologies became available.

• 0:21

  Italy's population concentrated in the Po Valley led competing city-states to build upward instead of outward.

• 0:21

  These three countries were the Axis powers because their early urbanization created a burst of national power.

• 0:21

  Korea's limited flat land forced people to reclaim sea space and build vertically, accelerating aging.

• 2:29

  Brazil and India started industrializing late but adopted existing technologies very quickly in the 1980s.

• 2:29

  These nations now have birth rates significantly below the United States despite their recent industrialization.

• 2:29

  Without moving up the value-added scale, these countries face demographic degradation without increased technological prowess.

• 2:29

  India and Brazil have experienced 40 years of record low birth rates without improving their economic standing.

• 2:29

  If current trends continue, Brazil and India will face demographic crises around 2070.

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