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I'm going to cheat and use your question to say something that fascinates me, that (honestly) isn't a direct answer. (I don't know much about animal populations...) What's really interesting is that we can't find examples of this ever happening before to humans. For the entire planet (with very few exceptions) to pivot fairly rapidly all at once toward much lower birthrates? For that to happen in different cultures, different political and economic systems? It's a remarkable event. Later this century our planet will enter a period of total human population decline that seems to be unique in our species' history. The closest similar event in terms of scale of population decline appears to be the Black Death plague that ravaged Europe and Asia. Happily, our current Population Shift is happening not because of a plague or a war, but because lots of people are making different choices about their lives. Which is...super interesting. (Sorry I don't know more about other animal species...) - Brian

Yeah it's fascinating. Let me gently nudge you toward a slightly less negative frame than the "lose-lose" idea. :) A lot of this shift appear to be driven by humans making happy, free, interesting decisions about their lives. You're right that very few policy experiments aimed at boosting fertility rates appear to be working. Sarah's story about Finland was remarkable. They're doing progressive, thoughtful, creative things and fertility rates are still dropping. But there are some experiments that seem interesting that we hope to explore more. France, for example, appears to have stabilized birthrates. Other countries have had some success slowing declines. I think one of the areas of reporting we're really focused on is managing what the UN is calling a population transition. If this IS inevitable, how can communities make it a good thing...or as good as possible? But finally, let me acknowledge that some researche think this will be really problematic for some countries. China, for example, is expected to see its population shrink by roughly 700 million people in this century. Navigating that is going to be...challenging. - Brian

There’s a definite generational divide in terms of the decisions younger generations are making. According to Pew Research, a growing share of American younger adults say they don’t want kids. And the birthrate data mirrors that; the number of children the average woman is having has dropped roughly in half since 1960 worldwide.

In my reporting, I’ve asked younger adults about this. And at least anecdotally, many have told me that their parents tread lightly with this topic. I was interviewing three generations of women in Georgia last weekend, and the 30-something daughter was leaning toward not having children. Her mother said essentially that of course she’d like to be a grandmother, but she doesn’t want to put pressure on her daughter, and she wants to respect her choices. I’m sure there are families where that’s not the case, but I’ve heard a similar sense from others I have interviewed for this series. Young adults seem to really value their autonomy, and they are up against higher living costs than previous generations. I also hear a lot of concerns about the state of the world and climate change, as you mention. - Sarah

A lot of really thoughtful researchers, activists and thinkers view population aging (and eventually decline) as a real positive. We've interviewed those folks and they're important parts of the conversation. Those thinkers agree it's time to start thinking about how to manage the transition from a "growth" model to a "stable" or "population decline" model. It's one thing to think about this kind of massive societal transition in the abstract. It's a very different thing to actually make it work. In Japan, people are struggling to find care-givers for their elderly. In Chile, there's deep concern about communities unraveling as schools close (because there are so few kids). In the rural area where I live, places that looked vibrant when I was a young man are now ghost towns due in part to plummeting birthrates. So - again - advocating for a lower-population planet is a reasonable position, but most experts tell us planning for that future and making it work will be...challenging. - Brian

NPR journalists don't get any direction from Amazon or any other corporation. That said, the issues you raise are real, and they have come up time and time again in our reporting. Many young people are concerned about the cost of living including housing, healthcare, and childcare, as they weigh whether or not to become parents and how many children to have. But there does appear to be more to this story. I'll refer again to my reporting in Finland, where the government guarantees access to often heavily subsidized childcare, provides parental leave for both mothers and fathers, provides national health insurance, and other payments for parents. Still, the birthrate there is lower than in the United States. - Sarah