IUSSP Debate:

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

 

1 April 2026

 

Watch video recording:

 

 

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? 

 

This IUSSP Debate "When Populations Shrink – Should States Encourage Births or Adapt?" was held on 1 April 2026. The debate was proposed and organized by IUSSP members Stan Becker (Johns Hopkins University) and Apoorva Jadhav (Population Reference Bureau).

 

The specific question framing the debate was: 

 

  • “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 (Vienna Institute of Demography), the debate brought together four world experts in two teams:

 

On the "Yes" side: 

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

On the "No" side: 

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

 

Slides:

 

Additional readings: