My town is being wrecked by demographic collapse (aging and birth rate)

[enchanted_elixir]

I don't live in a big town, and the demographic crisis here is somewhat appalling.

Firstly, the median age in my town was 50 years of age in 2022, it could be 53 years of age now, and our town's birth rates are horrendous. You don't really see children around town, you don't see teenagers or young adults. You mostly see middle aged people and elderly people, People 40 years of age or above. I also live in the sunbelt of the USA, so we also have elderly people moving down here.

1 in 6 people are elderly here according to my intuition. In certain places in town, it's like 1 in 3.

So, why is this bad?

The economy of our town is essentially dead. You see many old buildings around town which have "for sale" signs on them. Many of these buildings need repair.
When the population reaches a certain threshold of elderly people, the economy slows down and even flatlines since elderly people usually don't contribute to the economy. Our town is dying out. There are a lot of sections in our society which are dominated by elderly people.

This isn't to be ageist and say that they're bad, but their dominance in society indicates a dying population due to a lack replacement births.

Soon, we may experience an exodus of the youth here and amplify the situation since there are no opportunities here, where the local government can no longer function and will essentially somehow have to turn into a senior home management. I want to move.

We do have immigrants here, but they're usually Latinos from Mexico or Haiti and their offspring are (collectively) unlikely to have the expertise or birth rates to actually slow down or reverse the decay.

We could get to the point where the city's economy becomes non-functional and into free fall, and house prices start going down since there's no demand or buyers for these homes.

There are many inter-related crisis's causing these things: poor financial health, spirit, mental health, the nature of cities, and much more.
This whole scenario scares me is that we may not have the know-how to fix this or implement a solution and it shows that humanity may not end in a cataclysm, but due to old age and no births.


GPT SUMMARY

Spoiler: Summary - GPT generated

The thread highlights a demographic and economic crisis in a small Sunbelt town with a median age of 50+, where youth are scarce, and the population is dominated by elderly residents. This aging demographic stifles economic activity, leading to decaying infrastructure, business closures, and potential economic collapse. The lack of opportunities drives younger people to leave, creating a feedback loop of decline.

While immigrants arrive, the author doubts their collective capacity (expertise and birth rates) to reverse the trend. The thread raises broader concerns about societal aging and stagnation, suggesting humanity’s decline and extinction could stem from demographic shifts rather than catastrophes.

 

[enchanted_elixir]

I just looked at my town's population stats. Without immigration, we'd be experiencing a declining birth rate...

 

[psychomandible]

Molecules... bro molecules

 

[MoggerGaston]

old fucks are ideal targets for scams to make money. They are guillable, have memory-loss, no good access to the internet, no clue how the world operates, are socially isolated, etc.

easy prey for moneymaxxing.

 

[enchanted_elixir]

Molecules... bro molecules

My town is literally dead. Like the demographic trends point at death.

 

[enchanted_elixir]

old fucks are ideal targets for scams to make money. They are guillable, have memory-loss, no good access to the internet, no clue how the world operates, are socially isolated, etc.

easy prey for making money and moneymaxxing.

I would never take advantage of that.

 

[enchanted_elixir]

Molecules... bro molecules

Without immigration, our town's population would be declining already.

 

[MoggerGaston]

I would never take advantage of that.

brutal self-sabotage pill
loser mindset

 

[MoggerGaston]

Without immigration, our town's population would be declining already.

think about the pro's.

housing is impossibly expensive in the popular cities. in your place you could likely get a really good deal on a nice property.
old people also have a lot of money: start providing services they need, start profitting.

start taking advantage

 

[Shahnameh]

old fucks are ideal targets for scams to make money. They are guillable, have memory-loss, no good access to the internet, no clue how the world operates, are socially isolated, etc.

easy prey for moneymaxxing.

OldCels should be banned from the internet

 

[Alexanderr]

This is the average European village…

 

[MoggerGaston]

OldCels should be banned from the internet

would ruin the Indian economy. Scam call-centers would go bankrupt. No more oldcels to call to 'fix' their computer.

 

[Daddy's Home]

Just move to a bigger city where all the young people go and which does not depopulate like all the other young people in other countries on the planet in a exact the same situation, theory..

 

[enchanted_elixir]

This is the average European village…

The worse thing about this demographic death is that when you use national averages, the problems seem much better thant hey actually are. When you look at birth rates on the scale of cities, they're literally nightmares, like 0.05-0.5 births per women type of horrifying.

Apparently, my town only increased its population by like 35 people over 10 years!!!!!!!!!!
And then it increased by a thousand after Biden did his immigration plan thing for Cuba, Ukraine, Haiti and Venezuela.

The fact that we only increased our population by 35 in 10 years just shows that without immigration, our society would be utterly finished. This is a true blackpill. On top of that, the required labor is shrinking due to automatio (Walmart and mcdonalds automatic checkouts and ordering machines) and the economy of the city is declining, so jobs are slowly waning.

This is an existential threat to humanity.

 

[enchanted_elixir]

Just move to a bigger city where all the young people go and which does not depopulate like all the other young people in other countries on the planet in a exact the same situation, theory..

I need money to do so. Also, this phenomena will reach almost every corner of the world by 2040 imo.

 

[enchanted_elixir]

think about the pro's.

housing is impossibly expensive in the popular cities. in your place you could likely get a really good deal on a nice property.
old people also have a lot of money: start providing services they need, start profitting.

start taking advantage

What if the birth rate never goes back up? What if the city becomes irrelevant due to the compounding effects of people fleeing?

 

[enchanted_elixir]

brutal self-sabotage pill
loser mindset

I don't know why refusing to taking advantage of people is self-sabotage.
I don't have the morality of a gang member in the hood.

 

[MoggerGaston]

What if the birth rate never goes back up? What if the city becomes irrelevant due to the compounding effects of people fleeing?

self-sustain max.
solar-panels, battery, collect rainwater and clean it, grow your own crops, hold lifestock.
get trad-wife, make lots of kids. ideal life.

 

[MoggerGaston]

I don't know why refusing to taking advantage of people is self-sabotage.
I don't have the morality of a gang member in the hood.

taking advantage of your situation is how you win at life.

doesnt have anything to do with morality. you should question why old people should have any right to riches, peace, etc. when they are too weak to defend themselves.

its unnatural

 

[Alexanderr]

The worse thing about this demographic death is that when you use national averages, the problems seem much better thant hey actually are. When you look at birth rates on the scale of cities, they're literally nightmares, like 0.05-0.5 births per women type of horrifying.

Apparently, my town only increased its population by like 35 people over 10 years!!!!!!!!!!
And then it increased by a thousand after Biden did his immigration plan thing for Cuba, Ukraine, Haiti and Venezuela.

The fact that we only increased our population by 35 in 10 years just shows that without immigration, our society would be utterly finished. This is a true blackpill. On top of that, the required labor is shrinking due to automatio (Walmart and mcdonalds automatic checkouts and ordering machines) and the economy of the city is declining, so jobs are slowly waning.

This is an existential threat to humanity.

No country has found a solution to it either. It could very well be that modern society is fundamentally incompatible with having high enough birthrates because the opportunity cost for women is too great for them to want to do it.

 

[enchanted_elixir]

No country has found a solution to it either. It could very well be that modern society is fundamentally incompatible with having high enough birthrates because the opportunity cost for women is too great for them to want to do it.

It could also be that low birth rates are a feature of technoindustrial society.