The world faces its first major population drop since medieval times - a trend thats reshaping global politics and warfare. Most nations now have birth-rates below whats needed to keep population stable (which isnt good news for anyone)
In past times Native Americans had their own way to deal with population loss:
- They raided other tribes for people
- Women and kids were taken in
- Adult males were killed because they couldnt fit in
Today Vladimir Putin seems to follow a similar path - his Ukraine invasion looks like a modern-day version of these old-time population grabs. Russiaʼs numbers dont look good: from todays 145 million people its expected to drop to about 126 million by centuryʼs end
In no case should we allow anything like this in the future
Putinʼs obsession with demographics shows in his actions: after failed attempts to boost birth-rates (like giving money to big families and letting dads with 4 kids skip army service) he chose a different path - taking neighbors lands. When he grabbed Crimea 10 years ago it added 2-point-4 million people to Russiaʼs count
The war isnt just about land-grab though; its also about saving what Putin sees as Russian identity. Kremlin thinks West wants to make Russia child-free through liberal ideas and LGBT-friendly rules. They even made it illegal to promote child-free lifestyle (which shows how serious they are)
Ukraine faces even bigger population problems: from 52 million people when Soviet Union fell apart to just 25 million in govt-controlled areas now. They lost lots of people to war and moving abroad - and birth rates hit record lows with 3 times more deaths than births this year
This new kind of war - driven by fear of dying-out nations - might become more common. As world population keeps dropping more countries could start fighting not for resources but for people themselves