Empty Planet
The Shock of Global Population Decline
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Empty Planet
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Narrated by:
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Robert Petkoff
About this listen
A radical, provocative argument that the global population will soon begin to decline, dramatically reshaping the social, political and economic landscape.
For half a century, statisticians, pundits and politicians have warned that a burgeoning planetary population will soon overwhelm the earth's resources. But a growing number of experts are sounding a different kind of alarm. Rather than growing exponentially, they argue, the global population is headed for a steep decline.
Throughout history, depopulation was the product of catastrophe: ice ages, plagues, the collapse of civilisations. This time, however, we're thinning ourselves deliberately, by choosing to have fewer babies than we need to replace ourselves. In much of the developed and developing world, that decline is already underway, as urbanisation, women's empowerment and waning religiosity lead to smaller and smaller families. In Empty Planet, Ibbitson and Bricker travel from South Florida to Sao Paulo, Seoul to Nairobi, Brussels to Delhi to Beijing, drawing on a wealth of research and firsthand reporting to illustrate the dramatic consequences of this population decline - and to show us why the rest of the developing world will soon join in.
They find that a smaller global population will bring with it a number of benefits: fewer workers will command higher wages; good jobs will prompt innovation; the environment will improve; the risk of famine will wane; and falling birthrates in the developing world will bring greater affluence and autonomy for women. But enormous disruption lies ahead, too. We can already see the effects in Europe and parts of Asia, as aging populations and worker shortages weaken the economy and impose crippling demands on health care and vital social services. There may be earth-shaking implications on a geopolitical scale as well.
Empty Planet is a hugely important book for our times. Captivating and persuasive, it is a story about urbanisation, access to education and the empowerment of women to choose their own destinies. It is about the secularisation of societies and the vital role that immigration has to play in our futures.
Rigorously researched and deeply compelling, Empty Planet offers a vision of a future that we can no longer prevent - but that we can shape, if we choose to.
©2019 John Ibbitson, Darrell Bricker (P)2019 Hachette AudioListeners also enjoyed...
Critic reviews
"Riveting and vitally important." (Steven Pinker, Johnstone Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, and author of The Better Angels of Our Nature and Enlightenment Now)
What listeners say about Empty Planet
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- markb
- 15-08-20
Overall good
I liked the book but a lot of facts wrong you can decide for yourself
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Jimmy(8s)Jazz
- 10-10-23
It's called Demography, a statistical study of....
I can't say that I loved this audiobook or will I believe their central Theory / prediction as obviously an awful Lot of the subject matter is only the opinion of 2 men (based on their own research etc ..et al). However as this was written and released before the 2020 Covid Crisis as well as the invasion of Ukraine etc i will go so far as to say that maybe they could have a point here regards future world Population reductions, as Nowadays, I feel young people especially are getting really Nervous about their futures on this Planet and what Life will be like in another 30 to 50 years time, and what kind of a World will they want to bring their own children into..what with future food shortages, new viruses, wars over water rights and All the uncertainty that Climate change well bring. I would welcome and updated version to this book which starts with the last chapter in this book, finishes [What Lies Ahead} and commences with new threats such as Youth Social Anxiety as to what is coming down the line (& into Our shared future...)
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- S
- 24-03-19
Accurate, well written, well read
Factually accurate book.. Unbiased. Really enjoyed the perspective presented in this book. Covers a full range of countries.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- John London
- 05-10-20
Scary and provoking
An eye opener and a non corollary to everything I have ever heard in the topic
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Mooncoin
- 17-02-23
A distinct left wing bias
It’s an interesting listen for the most part - but the constant pro left wing references made me happy to get to the end.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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- l mitchell
- 06-07-19
you thought you knew.
there is a lot of content that you will know or remember hearing in the past. the novelty of this book is the way those random facts are explained and entwined with other pieces of thought and facts to take you onto one possible conclusion or maybe not. thought provoking and intelligently put together, well read.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Anonymous User
- 12-08-23
Thought provoking
Well researched and thought provoking. We are prisoners to demographics. Great read, check out Peter Zeihan if you want to dive deeper
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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- Paul
- 02-03-19
Dire don’t bother
An interesting subject but this is merely the usual liberal bashing of the west and appears to be a plug for the Canadian left without seeing the contradictions within its own arguments for unfettered global migration. Suggest the authors study more of the history of humanity before writing again
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2 people found this helpful