The international financial institution measures each country’s annual population growth rate. The report indicates that the total world population is still growing at an average annual rate of 1%.
But the demographic situation is not the same everywhere. In 42 countries around the world, the population last year decreased rather than increased.
Kosovo tops the list, with 9.69% fewer inhabitants. In second place is St. Maarten, a small state in the Caribbean region. There, the population loss amounted to 5.17%. In third place is the Marshall Islands, with a depopulation of 3.35%.
In our country, the population decreased by 2.83% during the year. Next on the list is North Macedonia – minus 1.97%.
Also in the ranking are Albania (-1.15%), Georgia (-1.13%), Latvia (-0.80%), Bosnia and Herzegovina (-0.66%), Belarus (-0.49%), Germany (-0.47%).
In addition to them Japan, Hungary, Poland, Russia, Greece, China, Italy and other states with indicators within the statistical error.
Interestingly, the warring Ukraine showed a population growth of 0.3% last year.
A large proportion of countries with declining populations are in Eastern Europe, with Kosovo, Moldova and Northern Macedonia showing the sharpest declines.
The main reasons for this trend are emigration – the process of leaving one’s country to resettle in another – and declining birth rates.
Eastern Europe has experienced high levels of emigration in recent decades due to wage differentials with Western Europe as well as EU integration (which creates a legal pathway for labor mobility).
Another interesting trend is the inclusion of large economies such as Germany, Japan, China and Italy on this list. While the decline in these countries is small, the sheer size of these nations means that the demographic shift could have widespread global implications.
Governments are taking measures to increase fertility, but it is too early to assess their effectiveness.
In Japan, for example, the Government has established the Agency for Children and Families, a new administrative body that oversees issues such as child protection and access to kindergartens. Meanwhile, China’s leaders have introduced a nationwide subsidy of 3,600 yuan (about $500) per year for each child under the age of three.
Moldovan citizens with Romanian citizenship are more familiar with the Romanian government’s program. Under it, children under two years of age receive a monthly allowance of 794 RON (3,055 MDL or $183) and 323 RON (1,240 lei or $74) from age two to 18.
Moldova itself pays a monthly allowance of 1,000 MDL ($60) to children under two years of age.
