What if, after fearing overpopulation, the real upheaval of the 21st century were empty cradles?

For half a century, humanity has feared a population explosion, as the world’s population doubled between 1975 and 2025. Quite suddenly, the opposite is taking shape: an implosion. Almost everywhere, the decline in fertility is accelerating even as very low levels have already been reached: one child per woman in China and Poland, 0.7 in Korea, 1.1 in Chile, and so on. Even in France, where the rate stands at 1.56, the number of deaths has just surpassed the number of births.

We will show that the causes run deeper than those commonly cited and that policies to encourage childbirth all quickly end in failure. What will be the long-term economic and political consequences? Can we imagine a world without men, and when might that happen?

Hervé Le Bras, a historian, demographer, and graduate of École Polytechnique, is undoubtedly the best-known French demographer today, with a strong presence in publishing and the media.