Population aging and decrease may have socioeconomic and environmental benefits

Environmental scientists argue that societies should embrace population aging and decrease in an opinion appearing October 16 in the journal Trends in Ecology & Evolution. They cite multiple reports of the socioeconomic and environmental benefits of population aging, mortality-related decrease, and shrinking workforces due to retirement and maintain that, contrary to some economic analyses, costs associated with aging societies are manageable, while smaller populations make for more sustainable societies.