BBC (August 17)
“Unprecedented levels of dam building and water extraction by nations on great rivers are leaving countries further downstream increasingly thirsty, increasing the risk of conflicts.” During the 20th Century, “global water use grew at more than twice the rate of population increase.” As a result, water crises have consistently ranked high in the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks and look poised to become an increasing source of conflict.
Tags: Conflict, Conflicts, Crises, Dam building, Downstream, Extraction, Population, Risk, Rivers, Thirsty, Unprecedented, Water, Water use
Denver Post (October 20)
“Poor people around the world who were among the hardest hit by the virus pandemic are also likely to be the last to recover from it.” The vaccines showing the most promise “need nonstop sterile refrigeration to stay potent and safe.” This isn’t available for over a third of the population. “Nearly 3 billion of the world’s 7.8 billion people live where temperature-controlled storage is insufficient for an immunization campaign to bring COVID-19 under control.”
Tags: COVID-19, Immunization, Pandemic, Poor, Population, Potent, Recover, Refrigeration, Safe, Sterile, Storage, Temperature, Vaccines
Investment Week (July 20)
“The US silver economy is worth $7trn alone, making it more valuable than the economies of Britain, Japan, or India. In the past 18 years, companies whose businesses relate to the ageing population have achieved average revenue and earnings growth that has outperformed the global market. This trend is expected to continue gathering momentum.”
Tags: Ageing, Britain, Earnings growth, Global market, India, Japan, Outperformed, Population, Revenue, Silver economy, Trend, U.S.
Time (April 22)
“Greece has an elderly population and a fragile economy,” but despite being a tourist mecca has somehow “escaped the worst of the coronavirus so far….with only 2,245 confirmed cases and 116 deaths as of April 21, one of the lowest counts in the European Union.” Some of this may be luck, but experts are attributing the early imposition of stringent “measures, and the way Greeks have largely abided by them.”
Tags: Confirmed, Coronavirus, Deaths, Economy, Elderly, EU, Fragile, Greece, Greeks, Population, Stringent “measures, Tourist
Financial Times (December 27)
“Japan is on the brink of crossing a long-feared demographic lines where the indigenous population will be shrinking at the rate of one person per minute.”
Tags: Brink, Demographics, Japan, Long-feared, Population
WARC (December 4)
Fully 45% of Malaysia’s population is made up of Millennials, “many of whom are digital natives.” As a result, “businesses looking to expand in Malaysia need to offer digital wallet payment options, as these cover a much greater proportion of the population than credit cards.” The diverse e-money options are dominated by outsiders, only 5 of the 46 e-money licenses “have gone to players in the traditional banking space.”
Tags: Banking, Credit cards, Digital natives, Digital wallet, E-money, Malaysia, Millennials, Population
CBS News (October 27)
In Japan almost 1,000 “towns and villages face extinction because the country is simply running out of people. Japan’s population peaked several years ago, at 128 million in 2011. And if the dire forecasts come true, Japan will have as few as 59 million people by 2100.” This is not some distant phenomenon. “What’s happening in Japan is a preview of what many Western countries, including the United States, will soon face.”
Tags: Dire, Extinction, Forecasts, Japan, Population, Preview, Towns, Villages
Bloomberg (July 16)
“South Korea is headed for a demographic crash,” with a fertility rate roughly half the replacement rate of 2.1. In 2018, it “fell to a record low of 0.98—much lower even than in countries such as Japan, whose rate is above 1.4.” By 2080, South Korea’s current “population of 51 million could fall by a third.”
The Economist (March 9)
Interest in Africa is booming. “Outsiders have noticed that the continent is important and becoming more so, not least because of its growing share of the global population (by 2025 the UN predicts that there will be more Africans than Chinese people). Governments and businesses from all around the world are rushing to strengthen diplomatic, strategic and commercial ties. This creates vast opportunities. If Africa handles the new scramble wisely, the main winners will be Africans themselves.”
Tags: Africa, Booming, Businesses, China, Diplomatic, Governments, Population, Strategic, UN
Wall Street Journal (May 17)
“American women are having children at the lowest rate on record, with the number of babies born in the U.S. last year dropping to a 30-year low…. The figures suggest that a number of women who put off having babies after the 2007-09 recession are forgoing them altogether.” This could spell trouble as America’s aging population is already “creating a funding imbalance that strains the social safety net that supports the elderly.”
Tags: Aging, Babies, Children, Elderly, Funding, Population, Recession, Safety net, U.S., Women
