We Europeans are becoming a tiny minority

A hundred years ago, a quarter of the world's population was European - today it looks completely different. "Demographic anxiety" casts a shadow over the upcoming EU elections.

Do you know what percentage of the world's population is European? For my own part, it wasn't that long ago that I opened my eyes to how relatively few we are - and how few we are about to become. 

 A hundred years ago, we made up a quarter of the world's population. Today, Europe's inhabitants make up only one tenth of the world's population, and the EU's only 6 percent. Towards the end of the century, EU citizens are expected to be just 4 percent. It's a pretty tiny minority.

 This week Europe Day is celebrated. We are moving towards EU elections. Climate, defence, the euro (and yes, a lot of domestic political issues) are discussed. But if you look further ahead, as the European Commission does in its strategy work, it becomes clear that demographic changes will have great significance for our societies. 

* In 2022, the birth rate was below 1.5 children per woman. ªAs early as 2050, 30 percent of the EU's population is expected to be over 65, compared to 20 percent today.

* The EU's share of the world's GDP is expected to decrease from a quarter in 2020 to a seventh in 2050. Eastern and Central Europe in particular is experiencing population decline – in the last three decades they have lost the equivalent of the entire population of Hungary and the Czech Republic combined.

This is pointed out by the political scientist Ivan Krastev, who has drawn attention to the political significance of the "demographic anxiety". According to him, this is a reason for populist electoral successes in Eastern Europe. "The fear that the nation's population is decreasing goes hand in hand with the fear that within the nation it is the wrong classes and ethnic groups that have higher fertility," he writes in an essay on democracy and demography (2022).

 Anxiety or not - it is a fact that the greatness of Europeans is, quite literally, diminishing. This in turn affects the EU's role in the world, economically and in terms of values. Or, as the European Commission puts it: "demographic change has a profound impact on everyday life".

PS. Please note that the figures do not  mention how many of the "immigrants" are muslim  and how many are adapting to the norms of the country they are arriving to. Also there is no mention of the percentage of the immigrants from outside Europe.

Also Check: 

https://axiom1b.blogspot.com/2023/05/overpopulation-and-future-of-mankind.html