IUSSP Debate:

"When Populations Shrink: 
Should States Encourage Births or Adapt?"

 

Online (Zoom), Wednesday 1 April 2026

11:00–12:30 Universal Time
[New-York: 7am • Rio: 8am • Paris-Oslo-Vienna: 13:00
Helsinki: 14:00 • New Delhi: 16:30 • Seoul-Tokyo: 20:00]

 

Register in advance

 

 

Join the IUSSP for a high-level virtual debate tackling one of the most consequential policy questions of the 21st century: Should nations with more deaths than births implement or increase incentives for childbearing and subsidies for child-rearing?

 

With opening insights on the question from Tomas Sobotka of the Vienna Institute of Demography, we bring together four world experts to debate:

 

  • YES Team: Anna Rotkirch (Finland) & Reiko Hayashi (Japan)
  • NO Team: Youngtae Cho (South Korea) & Vegard Skirbekk (Norway)

What does a society look like when natural population growth is no longer the default? Can financial subsidies truly compete with the powerful structural and cultural forces of the 21st century? Are there other options? Is human population decline a good thing so habitats of other species can expand instead of continuing to shrink? This debate brings together world experts to address the ultimate question: Is population decline a policy failure to be fixed, or a new reality to be managed? Come prepared to have your assumptions challenged and to pose questions of the speakers as we consider options for countries with declining populations.

 

The Debaters:

On the "Yes" side: 

  • Anna Rotkirch, Research professor, Population Research Institute, Väestöliitto (Finland)
  • Reiko Hayashi, Director-General, National Institute of Population and Social Security Research (Japan)

On the "No" side: 

  • Youngtae Cho, Professor, School of Public Health, Seoul National University (South Korea)
  • Vegard Skirbekk, Professor, Center for Fertility and Health, University of Oslo (Norway)

An overview of the issue will be provided by:

  • Tomas Sobotka, Deputy Director, Vienna Institute of Demography & Wittgenstein Centre (Austria)

Moderator: 

  • Stan Becker, Professor (emeritus), Johns Hopkins University (United States)

Q&A Moderator: 

  • Apoorva Jadhav, Senior Fellow, Population Reference Bureau (United States)

Introduction and conclusion: 

  • Laura Rodriguez Wong, Professor of Demography Cedeplar, Federal University of Minas Gerais (Brazil)