Latest news with #populationDecline
Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Montana mountain town sees mysterious population decline
The idyllic town of Great Falls in Montana has seen an exodus of people while much of the state continues to attract newcomers. In the latest data from the US Census Bureau, Great Falls was noted as the only large Montana city to consistently see its population decline since 2020. The city lost 230 people from 2023 to 2024, while many other hubs in the state have grown as people flocked during the pandemic. Great Falls' population decline is still relatively small compared to its population of over 60,000, and it remains around half the size of Montana's largest city, Billings, at 123,000. Billings grew by 686 people in that same time frame, with the second most populated city, Missoula, growing its 77,000-people population by 557 people. Montana's idyllic scenery and low taxes drew in many people during the pandemic as people opted to work remotely from the state. But the rapid growth has slowed according to the new census data, with cities such as Bozeman still growing but at a much lower rate. From 2020 to 2021, Bozeman grew at three percent as it added over a thousand new residents, but this fell to a 1.4 percent rate from 2023 to 2024. The next town over from Bozeman, Belgrade, saw an even bigger drop than the major city as the influx it saw from the pandemic slowed dramatically. In 2021, Belgrade grew by a huge 8.1 percent, but this dropped to a growth rate of just 2.3 percent this year as its population grew by 280 residents, per the Montana Free Press . But while much of Montana grew since the pandemic in 2020, Great Falls is the only major city in the state that consistently shrunk. Statewide, migration from those already living in the US has reportedly been the primary driver of Montana's population surge. Between 2020 and 2023, over 51,000 more people moved into Montana than moved away, according to the census bureau. Over 6,000 more people moved into Montana than moved out in 2024 alone, with a huge majority of those coming from other states rather than people born outside the US. It comes as startling new data on the US population found that the nation's natural-born population could be almost extinct in just 500 years. Not taking into account immigration or major changes in death rates, statisticians predict this group could be cut by at least one-third every 75 years. This, economist Dr Abigail Hall told is a clear sign the US is heading toward a 'detrimental' crisis. Dr Hall, an associate professor of economics at the University of Tampa, told 'Economically speaking, depopulation is detrimental for economic growth.' 'One thing people would probably witness is that it's going to be harder to find people to fill jobs.' Experts have warned that as the US population dwindles, there will be fewer people to pay off the nation's debt. For example, the Heritage Foundation estimates a baby born in 2007 will assume $30,500 in debt. However, a baby born in 2020 will assume $59,000. Based on the current trends, recent Census data predicts the natural-born population in the US will be back to levels of the post-Civil War era in the next 300 years, with just 60million people. And around the year 2600, this population could dwindle to only 10 million, a number not seen since the early 1800s when the country bounced back from the Revolutionary War.
Daily Mail
4 hours ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Mysterious exodus from idyllic Montana mountain town despite state booming for years
The idyllic town of Great Falls in Montana has seen an exodus of people while much of the state continues to attract newcomers. In the latest data from the US Census Bureau, Great Falls was noted as the only large Montana city to consistently see its population decline since 2020. The city lost 230 people from 2023 to 2024, while many other hubs in the state have grown as people flocked during the pandemic. Great Falls' population decline is still relatively small compared to its population of over 60,000, and it remains around half the size of Montana's largest city, Billings, at 123,000. Billings grew by 686 people in that same time frame, with the second most populated city, Missoula, growing its 77,000-people population by 557 people. Montana's idyllic scenery and low taxes drew in many people during the pandemic as people opted to work remotely from the state. But the rapid growth has slowed according to the new census data, with cities such as Bozeman still growing but at a much lower rate. From 2020 to 2021, Bozeman grew at three percent as it added over a thousand new residents, but this fell to a 1.4 percent rate from 2023 to 2024. The next town over from Bozeman, Belgrade, saw an even bigger drop than the major city as the influx it saw from the pandemic slowed dramatically. In 2021, Belgrade grew by a huge 8.1 percent, but this dropped to a growth rate of just 2.3 percent this year as its population grew by 280 residents, per the Montana Free Press. But while much of Montana grew since the pandemic in 2020, Great Falls is the only major city in the state that consistently shrunk. Statewide, migration from those already living in the US has reportedly been the primary driver of Montana's population surge. Between 2020 and 2023, over 51,000 more people moved into Montana than moved away, according to the census bureau. Over 6,000 more people moved into Montana than moved out in 2024 alone, with a huge majority of those coming from other states rather than people born outside the US. It comes as startling new data on the US population found that the nation's natural-born population could be almost extinct in just 500 years. Not taking into account immigration or major changes in death rates, statisticians predict this group could be cut by at least one-third every 75 years. This, economist Dr Abigail Hall told is a clear sign the US is heading toward a 'detrimental' crisis. Dr Hall, an associate professor of economics at the University of Tampa, told 'Economically speaking, depopulation is detrimental for economic growth.' 'One thing people would probably witness is that it's going to be harder to find people to fill jobs.' Experts have warned that as the US population dwindles, there will be fewer people to pay off the nation's debt. For example, the Heritage Foundation estimates a baby born in 2007 will assume $30,500 in debt. However, a baby born in 2020 will assume $59,000. Based on the current trends, recent Census data predicts the natural-born population in the US will be back to levels of the post-Civil War era in the next 300 years, with just 60million people. And around the year 2600, this population could dwindle to only 10million, a number not seen since the early 1800s when the country bounced back from the Revolutionary War. Dr Hall highlights America's flailing fertility rate, which was laid bare in a report last month by the CDC. The report found women on average had 1.6 births each in 2023, well below the 2.1 needed to sustain population growth. Political leaders are warning of dire consequences, with Elon Musk often saying population decline could become one of the most pressing issues to face humanity in the coming decades.
Japan Times
2 days ago
- Business
- Japan Times
Japan's fertility rate hits record low despite government push
Japan's fertility rate declined in 2024 for the ninth consecutive year, reaching another historical low that underscores the immense challenge facing the government as it attempts to reverse the trend in one of the world's most aged societies. The total fertility rate — the average number of children a woman is likely to have over her childbearing years — fell to 1.15, down from 1.2 the previous year, and marking the lowest rate in records going back to 1947, according to a health ministry release on Wednesday. The trend was particularly notable in Tokyo, where the rate was below 1 for the second year in a row. The total number of births dropped to about 686,000, marking the first time the figure has fallen below 700,000. Deaths totaled around 1.61 million, leading to a net population decline of roughly 919,000 and extending the run of annual drops in the country's population to 18 years. The data exclude migration. The data underscore the urgency of the government's recent push to boost fertility. Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has rolled out a range of policies aimed at easing the financial burden on families, including expanded child-related subsidies and tuition-free high school education. The government has also guaranteed full wage compensation for some couples who both take parental leave and improved working conditions for childcare and nursing staff. These measures build on the initiatives by Ishiba's predecessor, Fumio Kishida, who pledged to raise per-child government support to levels comparable to Sweden, where 3.4% of GDP is devoted to family benefits. At the time, Kishida warned that Japan could "lose its capacity to function as a society' unless bold action was taken. The crisis of rapidly declining birth rates remains unresolved, a health ministry spokesperson said, citing the shrinking population of young women and the trend toward later marriage and childbirth among key contributing factors. The continued decline in births is renewing concern over the future of Japan's social security system. The nation's public pension program is under increasing strain, with fewer contributors and a growing number of recipients. Over the past two decades, the number of people paying into the system has fallen by around 3 million, while beneficiaries have increased by nearly 40%, according to a separate ministry report. Japan's soaring social security costs are placing even greater pressure on public finances, where the debt-to-GDP ratio stands at the highest among advanced economies. For fiscal year 2025, social welfare spending totaled ¥38.3 trillion ($266.3 billion), accounting for one-third of the national budget. The labor market is also expected to remain under pressure. If current trends continue, Japan could face a shortage of 6.3 million workers in 2030, according to an estimate by Persol Research and Consulting. Demographic challenges are increasing around the world. In South Korea, the fertility rate ticked up slightly last year for the first time in nine years, though only to 0.75. U.S. births declined in 2023 to the lowest level in more than 40 years, a trend that likely led U.S. President Donald Trump's administration to consider a raft of child care policies. In a rare encouraging sign, the number of newlywed couples in Japan rose by more than 10,000 in 2024 compared with the previous year. Since marriage and birth rates are closely linked in the country, the increase may help support future fertility. Local governments, including in Tokyo, have recently launched initiatives to encourage marriage, such as developing dating apps and organizing matchmaking events to create more opportunities for people to meet potential partners.
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
The French village PAYING families to move in: Quaint hamlet lures couples with £4,000 bonus plus £850 per child in bid to boost dwindling population
Three hundred thousand spectators descend on the French city of Le Mans every year for the opening day of the world-famous endurance race. The region, today, owes much to the noise and fervour of the competition, bringing nearly 100 million euros to the local economy annually. But just 15 miles to the north, the way of life is slower, still cloaked in its Medieval history and visibly untouched by the busy communes on its frontiers. The sparse streets of Marolles-les-Braults are studded occasionally with a house or a heritage site. Churches and castles nearby paint a rich picture of France 's rocky history with England. But the village of 2,000 today is content with quiet inside its tiny borders, surrounded in all directions by sprawling fields of gold and green. Still, an unsettling truth looms over the village. The population is ageing, and the number of empty properties has swollen in recent years. Pressed to respond to this existential challenge, authorities are trialing radical ideas to encourage change. Taking note of similar trials across Europe, a new scheme - introduced only in November - will see first-time buyer couples aged under 40 paid a €5,000 bonus (£4,195) to move to the hamlet, with an extra €1,000 (£839) per child under 15. There is a real sense of pride around the carefully conserved way of life in Marolles-les-Braults. Publicly, the mayor boasts of how 'fortunate' they are 'to have two churches'. Illustrating the rate of change, he says the area has taken on 'a new dimension' since a decision to cultivate more flowers. People are clearly important. A polished website for the commune has been updated to list all of the small businesses offering services to locals, many of them family-owned. There are separate pages dedicated to markets and funfairs taking place throughout the year, and a place to report anything lost and found. Decisions are made on a small scale, and the village rarely makes national headlines. But a page has nonetheless been cultivated to keep a record of the village's history and changes on a local level. The demographic crisis is not immediately apparent. In 1982, the earliest published record, there were 1,840 people living in the village. In 2022, there were 2,135. Change has been steady. But, in keeping with trends across Europe, there is a felt concern that the population cannot continue to age at the current rate without replacement. The response is still very much in its early stages. It has been only six months since the authorities voted on a plan to welcome in younger people with a cash incentive. A welcome page for new residents - a nice thought - so far only reads: 'Welcome to the new residents of Marolles-les-Braults and Dissé-sous-Ballon. We invite you to come and introduce yourself at the Marolles-les-Braults Town Hall.' And an initial annual budget of just €30,000 has been set aside for the scheme. The preconditions for the bonuses makes clear the priorities of the administration. To qualify for the €5,000 grant, couples must be first-time buyers aged under 40 purchasing a home in the area. An extra €1,000 per child under 15 is available for those fitting the criteria. The offer is quite significant in an area where homes usually cost between €130,000 (£108,000) and €170,000 (£142,000), per SeLoger. AirBnb shows rental homes from as little as £51 a night. The Connexion, an English-language outlet in France, says that the scheme aims to 'rejuvenate the village' by 'bringing in a younger population to increase its dynamism and prevent homes from remaining empty for too long and decaying'. So far, they wrote in the middle of May, three young couples have moved to the area. Marolles-les-Braults is not the first to try such a scheme. Italy this year unveiled plans to offer families as much as £23,000 to move to the idyllic regions of Sardinia and Calabria, but there is a catch. Residents considering a move must go to one of nine small villages in the regions with populations of 2,000 or fewer. These are not the more touristic areas but sleepy villages. Italy recognises the wider pattern of an exodus of young natives moving to larger cities or overseas for work, and looks to bring people in before making its smaller population centres more desirable to stay in. France also has a precedent of encouraging residents with cash incentives, though unlike Italy the fees are significantly smaller, organised by the regions rather than the state. In 2019, the 42 municipalities in Aisne, northern France, banded together with a scheme to encourage buyers to relocate with €5,000 grants. It was hoped the scheme would breathe new life into a sparsely populated area and help rejuvenate the region's old buildings, unoccupied and falling into disrepair. 'We have carried out a study that has led us to the conclusion that many of these houses have been empty for a long time,' Pierre-Jean Verzelen, president of the community of communes for Pays de la Serre told Le Parisien at the time. At the time, a 115sqm home in the region could be expected to set buyers back just €35,000 (£29,000). Today, the average price per square metre in the London region is £7,000. It was unclear how well the scheme had worked. MailOnline was unable to reach the local administration for comment. The scheme aims to 'rejuvenate the village' by 'bringing in a younger population to increase its dynamism and prevent homes from remaining empty for too long and decaying' In Brignon, a village in the south of France, authorities experimented with selling off land at just €1 per square metre to young couples in an effort to rebuild its population. The population in 2017 was much smaller than that of Marolles-les-Braults, hovering around 600. But by 2024, Brignon was able to report a net population increase of 30 - a not insignificant rise of around five per cent. The Connexion reported in January that the increase was enough to keep open a local school and justify plans to build a new day nursery. With its bold new policy, Marolles-les-Braults will hope to echo some of that success. The village is only a stone's throw from the city of Le Mans, but carries a much slower pace of life. Recognising this to be an asset as much as a curse the commune will hope its carefully conserved offer is enough to woo new friends and neighbours from afar.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
A rare desert songbird sounds 'red alert' for endangered bird species in Arizona
Arizona's desert birds are in decline, according to a national conservation report tracking long-term bird populations, prompting one conservation group to ask the federal government to take action on behalf of a quickly disappearing, rare songbird. The Center for Biological Diversity has petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect the Bendire's thrasher under the Endangered Species Act. The Bendire's thrasher is one of the nation's fastest declining birds, according to the petition, losing almost 90% of its population over the past 50 years. Over half of the species' population lives in Arizona, where threats like urban sprawl and climate change have caused significant habitat loss. The call to list the Benshire's thrasher reflects a larger trend of bird population decline across the country. Nationally, about a third of all bird species found in the U.S. are at risk due to small or declining populations and other threats, according to the U.S. State of the Birds Report. The report is an assessment of the nation's bird populations compiled by scientists from several bird conservation groups. Data sources for the report include U.S. Fish and Wildlife population surveys, National Audubon Society's bird counts, U.S. Geological Survey's Breeding Bird Survey and Cornell Lab of Ornithology's eBird Status and Trends project. Of the 31 desert-dwelling bird species tracked in the report, more than half showed declining populations in the last 50 years. None of those arid land bird species in the report showed an increasing population. 'The fact that we're seeing such a decline in the Bendire's thrasher population signals high levels of degradation in the ecosystem and declines in other species,' said Krista Kemppinen, senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity. 'The Bendire's thrasher has an ecological role, but it's also an indicator of changes that may be happening in less studied species and of changes yet to come,' said Kemppinen. Birds at risk: 'Rarer creatures': Elegant trogons, hummingbirds alter flight paths as drought persists The Bendire's thrasher was named after Charles Bendire, a U.S. Army Lieutenant and naturalist who came across the unknown bird in the 1870s. The medium-sized desert songbird has a dusty brown plumage, bright yellow eyes and a long tail. Found in shrubby desert and grassland habitats, the thrasher spends much of its time skittering on the ground searching for its next meal with its tail cocked in the air. The term 'thrasher' is used to describe birds that forage on the ground and 'thrash' leaf litter or dirt in search of their next meal. The Bendire's thrasher is a shy bird, except during breeding season, when the male thrashers sing a rich but jumbled song. The U.S. State of the Birds Report categorizes the Bendire's thrasher as one of 42 red-alert tipping point species, meaning the species requires immediate conservation action to ensure recovery. One of the biggest threats facing the species is sprawl from population centers in the state. The flat, shrubby desert land where the thrashers live is also a prime location for development projects, like the proposed Interstate 11 corridor, a 280-mile highway that would stretch from Wickenburg to Nogales. 'The reason why unchecked development into desert habitat is a concern, is because it destroys the habitat and resources that the thrasher needs for breathing, nesting and overall survival,' said Kemppinen. 'It also serves to increase the fragmentation of existing habitat into smaller and smaller patches. That ultimately become so small that they're unable to support viable populations of native species.' If you like reading about birds: Sign up for AZ Climate, The Republic's weekly environment newsletter Conservationists have been tracking the thrasher's decline for over a decade. In 2010, a diverse coalition of environmental groups and state and federal agencies formed the Desert Thrasher Working Group, a project under the Borderlands Avian Data Center, to study population trends and create management practices for the Bendire's thrasher, LeConte's thrasher and loggerhead shrike. Initially focused on developing survey protocols for the elusive birds, in recent years, the group has begun creating best practices for solar energy projects seeking to develop thrasher habitats. 'These are attractive areas for solar. They don't have a lot of tall trees and the land's rather flat,' said Jennie MacFarland, the director of bird conservation with Tucson Bird Alliance, who is a part of the Desert Thrasher Working Group. 'It looks like this is empty desert, and it's not. It's home for birds like Bendire's and LeConte's thrashers. Caring for condors: At a remote Arizona wildlife center, biologists treat endangered birds Simply having a small population doesn't mean a species meets the requirements to be listed under the Endangered Species Act. The federal law lists five factors to determine whether a species is at risk of extinction. The Bendire's thrasher meets four of those five factors, according to the center, including destruction or threats to habitat, disease or predation, inadequacy of existing regulations, and other manmade or natural factors that threaten the species' existence. If the Bendire's thrasher is listed under the Endangered Species Act, U.S. Fish and Wildlife will craft a recovery plan that will contain specific actions to conserve the species in the wild. The petition is only the first step. Now that the center's petition has been submitted to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife, the federal agency will have 90 days to respond. If the agency moves forward, a multi-year scientific analysis and environmental review will be conducted before the Bendire's thrasher is officially listed under the Endangered Species Act. In the meantime, as multiple desert bird species see population decline, MacFarland points to the public's willingness to adapt their properties to bird-friendly habitats as a positive development for conservation. 'One of the biggest bright spots is seeing how many people are interested in turning their yards, their human habitat, into suitable habitat for the species that are willing to live in more urban areas,' said MacFarland with Tucson Bird Alliance. 'Tons of people that are really interested and committed to it, and do a lot of work to make their properties and yards good for birds and wildlife.' John Leos covers environmental issues for The Arizona Republic and azcentral. Send tips or questions to Environmental coverage on and in The Arizona Republic is supported by a grant from the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust. Follow The Republic environmental reporting team at and @azcenvironment on Facebook and Instagram. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Group seeks endangered status for Bendire's thrasher, desert songbird
