If people stopped having babies today, how long would it be before humans all died out?
Take a guess, and then read on for the answer....
At first, life would continue as usual, but over time, the population would shrink as older people died and no new people were born.
Fewer young people would mean fewer workers, and society would struggle to keep up with basic needs like food, water, health care, and other services. Eventually, everything would fall apart. This kind of situation isn't likely unless something extreme happens, like a global disease that makes everyone infertile or a major disaster like nuclear war.
These ideas have been explored in books like The Handmaid's Tale and The Children of Men, where people can't reproduce and society falls into chaos. Right now, the world's population is still growing but slowly. It's expected to peak at 10 billion around the 2080s. In the U.S., birth rates are going down while death rates are rising. Some countries, like India and South Korea, are seeing especially sharp drops in birth rates. People are choosing to have fewer or no children, and more men are dealing with fertility issues. Immigration can help balance falling populations, but it's often limited by politics.
Fewer young people could lead to economic problems, since younger people usually do most of the work and care for the elderly. Humans have existed for about 200,000 years, but extinction is possible-just like it was for the Neanderthals, who disappeared about 40,000 years ago. If humans go extinct, other animals might thrive, but we'd lose our culture, art, science, and history. To avoid this future, we need to manage climate change, prevent wars, and protect biodiversity, which keeps Earth livable for everyone.