A declining population will bring a few challenges, none of them "unprecedented". The main issues will be A) increased difficulty in funding a welfare state which was predicated on baby boom demographics, and B) a related decline in quality of life among the poor--particularly the elderly, and C) the likely end to the 150+ year trend of a constantly rising stock market.
These things will sort themselves out, though.
Historically, the driving force behind childbearing was the notion that children were your retirement plan. If you wanted to be sure that there would be someone to take care of you in old age, you'd sure as heck better have a few kids. The fewer kids, the higher the likelihood that, once you were too old to work, your life would end in poverty. The more kids you had, the more likely they would be able to take good care of you.
The combination of Government social guarantees, general prosperity and a constantly rising stock market have obliterated this natural incentive structure. Children are no longer required to ensure a certain standard of living in the future--they are perceived as a financial drain, if anything. The moment the social security programs dry up and the stock market flattens out, women will quickly perceive the new reality, wherein having more children is a direct personal benefit, and not having kids is a dire economic risk. Once this occurs, fertility will skyrocket and the cycle will repeat.
A declining population will bring a few challenges, none of them "unprecedented". The main issues will be A) increased difficulty in funding a welfare state which was predicated on baby boom demographics, and B) a related decline in quality of life among the poor--particularly the elderly, and C) the likely end to the 150+ year trend of a constantly rising stock market.
These things will sort themselves out, though.
Historically, the driving force behind childbearing was the notion that children were your retirement plan. If you wanted to be sure that there would be someone to take care of you in old age, you'd sure as heck better have a few kids. The fewer kids, the higher the likelihood that, once you were too old to work, your life would end in poverty. The more kids you had, the more likely they would be able to take good care of you.
The combination of Government social guarantees, general prosperity and a constantly rising stock market have obliterated this natural incentive structure. Children are no longer required to ensure a certain standard of living in the future--they are perceived as a financial drain, if anything. The moment the social security programs dry up and the stock market flattens out, women will quickly perceive the new reality, wherein having more children is a direct personal benefit, and not having kids is a dire economic risk. Once this occurs, fertility will skyrocket and the cycle will repeat.