By "economy", I presume you mean things like real estate speculation.

Japan is a good example of a country where the population has been in steady decline for a long time now. The economy has stagnated, but it has not collapsed.

The more worrisome part of what we're seeing in Japan is the total hollowing out of the countryside as the young systematically pack into the three large cities that increasingly dominate all economic activity, namely Tokyo, Osaka and Fukuoka.

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coldtea 15 hours ago | parent | next [-]

>Japan is a good example of a country where the population has been in steady decline for a long time now. The economy has stagnated, but it has not collapsed.

Give it time. Japan only crossed the point of deaths > births about 20 years ago, which was also the time it reached peak population (as recorded by a census around that time).

Give it 20 years for the peak kids to grow above 40 and it will be a dystopia.

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toomuchtodo 16 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Why is rural depopulation worrisome? Young people, as one would expect, want to be located near other young people and jobs.

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pnw 16 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Increasing the high-density urban population leads to even lower fertility.

"We find a robust association between density and fertility over time, both within- and between-countries. That is, increases in population density are associated with declines in fertility rates, controlling for a variety of socioeconomic, socioecological, geographic, population-based, and female empowerment variables."

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34914431/

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coldtea 15 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

These young people will be middle aged people located near old people, with a huge average age - and the flee to the cities will increase that.

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bahmboo 16 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Because that's where the food comes from.

	▲	amanaplanacanal 16 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Are they producing less food? Migration from the country to the city has been going on for a long time. You just don't need as many people to produce food as you used to.