Empty Planet

The Shock of Global Population Decline

By: Darrell Bricker, John Ibbitson

Narrated by: Robert Petkoff

Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

An award-winning journalist and leading international social researcher make the 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 population will soon overwhelm the earth's resources. But a growing number of experts are sounding a different alarm. Rather than continuing to increase exponentially, they argue, the global population is headed for a steep decline - and in many countries, that decline has already begun.

In Empty Planet, John Ibbitson and Darrell Bricker find that a smaller global population will bring with it many benefits: fewer workers will command higher wages; 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 healthcare and social security. The United States and Canada are well-positioned to successfully navigate these coming demographic shifts - that is, unless growing isolationism leads us to close ourselves off just as openness becomes more critical to our survival than ever.

Rigorously researched and deeply compelling, Empty Planet offers a vision of a future that we can no longer prevent - but one that we can shape, if we choose.

Praise for Empty Planet

“An ambitious reimagining of our demographic future.” (The New York Times Book Review)

“The authors combine a mastery of social-science research with enough journalistic flair to convince fair-minded readers of a simple fact: Fertility is falling faster than most experts can readily explain, driven by persistent forces.” (The Wall Street Journal)

“The beauty of this book is that it links hard-to-grasp global trends to the easy to-understand individual choices being made all over the world today . . . a gripping narrative of a world on the cusp of profound change.” (The New Statesman)

©2019 Darrell Bricker and John Ibbitson (P)2019 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“Arresting...lucid, trenchant and very readable, the authors' arguments upend consensus ideas about everything from the environment to immigration; the result is a stimulating challenge to conventional wisdom." (Publishers Weekly)

“Warnings of catastrophic world overpopulation have filled the media since the 1960s, so this expert, well-researched explanation that it's not happening will surprise many readers...delightfully stimulating.” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review)

"Thanks to the authors’ painstaking fact-finding and cogent analysis, [Empty Planet] offers ample and persuasive arguments for a re-evaluation of conventional wisdom." (Booklist)

Very informative and enjoyable

Information needed by so many. I hope people will listen with open minds & take action.

Empty Planet

This book gave me much to think about and the future looks promising. So many concepts I had never thought about before.

Fascinating stuff

I'm a little biased toward this idea since I agree Earth can't support this many people, and people believe what they want to.

But the book puts out some very interesting theories, ideas and facts. If you at all enjoyed An Inconvenient Truth, or other environmental media, you'll love this book. It gets into numbers and statistics in the middle, so it kinda drags, but hey, that's research. The authors also break it down into broad strokes, so anyone can understand.

The book does get a little subjective at points, understandably; but the objective quality outweighs the op-ed sections.

Also it's written by Canadians and who doesn't love them!

I really hope this book's theories are right.

Good topic that doesn't get talked about enough.

Good tooic that doesn't get talked about enough, but it gets preachy in the last couple of chapters, and the authors are determined throughout that immigration is the only thing that can help (kind of the whole point of the book) even though the book thoroughly discredits this approach over the long term. There should have been more avenues pursued that could lead to a sustained Goldilocks stage.

hated the ending

I really really enjoyed this book until the last chapter. the book was so full and facts and information that really made me think. then the last chapter was just an opinionated line of crap that didn't fit in the book.

Interesting, but biased.

The author assumes that the people and the economy "have to" be taken care of by the equal amount of people in the next generation, hence people should have more children, or allow refugees from the 3rd world countries. This is not necessarily true, there is ingenuity, innovation and automation. I believe, if we want, we can figure out how to live in the smaller society. In addition, author's criticism of practically every country (Britain, USA, Europe) is off-putting. However, I do like Canada's, author's home and role model, meritocratic emigration policy. Finally, author's suggestion that we should all move to the big city, New York, to save the word vs living on a farm, is ridiculous as the cities are the cancer as far as the Earth and society is concerned.
I am looking forward to a little less population by the time I retire, to a home in the country side, fresh air and neighbors I know and trust. I know we can be creative and inventive and that this is something that many people underestimate when forcasting the future.

Very Informative

The book provides you with information not generally known. It opens your mind to new ideas. It is a very informative and provides a very good learning experience.

What is the desired global population?

That’s the real question that strangely goes unanswered in this interesting deep dive into demographics. The authors spend too much time on immigration, which addresses one country’s population while ignoring the shrinking global population (which is why we’re here). They also undercut the benefits of immigration with a dig at their negligible fertility impact (i.e. an immigrant’s 2.1 addition to a 1.7 society - big whoop). It’s rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic as the globe consistently shrinks overall. This strangely long series of chapters wastes time castigating uncaring societies while dodging the real concern. How many people can our planet support with innovation potential and environmental protection in balance? I still don’t know at the book’s end. Should you get this book? It’s engaging and topical. Sure... if you have a credit burning in your pocket.

Demographics are Destiny

Understanding the implications of inherited knowledge and hyperbole is not readily found in today's dialogue. Sometimes it takes a Canuck to remind you of why you are so blessed and not necessarily imperiled.

Thought provoking, excellent performance

This book is very well done. Well researched, very thought provoking. This book enlightens readers like me who know little about demography, and little about population decline. I wish the author included more information about the pros of population decline (i.e., environment) but that's not why this book exists. Would recommend!