12 episodes
A CHILDLESS WORLD A CHILDLESS WORLD
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- News
In November 2022, the earth crossed an important threshold—eight billion inhabitants. Most media focused on overpopulation—when in fact, depopulation is a far more interesting problem. Half of the world’s countries are not creating enough children even to maintain current levels, while some of them seem to have stopped altogether. This is one of the most massive and unexpected phenomena of our time: how modern societies are silently putting themselves on a trajectory of stagnation if not outright
extinction. In this podcast, we investigate this trend, and try to understand what it will mean to live in a world without children.
David Duhamel, economics professor at Parsons Paris and adjunct professor at Sciences Po Paris, tells the story of the world to come: a childless world
Production : MaisonK Prod
Original Music : Ben Molinaro
Graphism : Anna Toussaint
Main Sources
Banque Mondialehttps://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.TFRT.IN
Gapminder https://www.gapminder.org (https://www.gapminder.org/)
IHME https://www.healthdata.org/ (https://www.healthdata.org/)
INED https://www.ined.fr/fr/publications/editions/population-et-societes/ (https://www.ined.fr/fr/publications/editions/population-et-societes/)
Our world in Data https://ourworldindata.org/ (https://ourworldindata.org/)
Darrel Bricker et John Ibbitson, 2019, Empty Planet, Crown, New York
Yves Charbit et Maryse Gaimard, 2015, La bombe démographique en question, PUF
Danny Dorling and Stuart Gietel-Basten, 2018, Why Demography Matters, Polity
Charles Goodheart et Manoj Pradhan, 2020, The Great Demographic Reversal. Ageing Societies, Waning Inequality and an Inflation Revival, Palgrave McMillan
Jonathan V. Last, 2014, What to expect when no one is expecting, Encounter Books
Steven Philip Kramer, 2014, The other population crisis. What governments can do about falling birth rates, Woodrow Wilson Center Press
Thomas Malthus, 1798, Essai sur le principe de population, pfd en ligne
Paul Morland, 2022, Tomorrow’s people, The Future of Humanity in Ten numbers, Picador
Emmanuel Pont, 2022, Faut-il arrêter de faire des enfants pour sauver la planète ? Payot
Jennifer Sciubba, 2022, 8 billion and counting, Norton
Bruno Tertrais 2020, Le choc démographique, Odile Jacob
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12 - Epilogue
Season 1 comes to an end. But not without saying many thanks, recaping the latest data and musing about accordion and bagpipes. As for what's next? Suscribe to our newsletter to keep in touch. A small click for you but a giant leap for the crew behind this podcast: Laurent Kouchner, Ben Molinaro and myself, David Duhamel
https://podcast.ausha.co/a-childless-world?s=1
See you very soon.
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11 - Childfree not Childless Part 2
In this episode, women look back on their journey and discuss the choice they made many
years ago to have or not to have children. One reaffirms that choosing to be childfree was the best decision she ever made while another talks about a subject still taboo: motherhood regret. As for me? Well, let’s just say, I made a fool of myself.
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10 - Childfree, not Childless. Part 1
Students from all over the world claim their right for a childfree life. Some want freedom, others long for better gender balance, and others recoil in the face a dystopian future. Demographers say the childfree are few and far between. That is about to change.
A podcast created by David Duhamel produced by MaisonK Prod
Original music : Ben Molinaro
Graphism : Anna Toussaint
Sources
Eva Beaujouan & Al, 2017, Has Childlessness peaked in Europe? Population and Societies, n°540
Charlotte Debest & Al, 2014, Childlessness: a life choice that goes against the norm, Population and Societies, n°508
Tomas Sobotka, World's Highest Childlessness Levels in East Asia, 2021, Population and Societies, n°595
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9 - The End of Sex?
Behind the decline in fertility, isn't there a Sex Recession? A Love Crisis? Dating skills that are withering away? A Tinder-apocalypse? Undeniably, this episode is different. I talk about marriage, divorce, Tinder, pornography, patriarchy, and pleasure. And as bonus, I offer a bright new game for the next time you entertain friends at home.
A podcast created by David Duhamel produced by MaisonK Prod
Original music : Ben Molinaro
Graphism : Anna Toussaint
Sources
Daysy Letourneur, 2022, On ne nait pas mec, on le devient. Zones
Bruno Patino, 2019, La Civilisation du poisson rouge, Grasset
Esther Perel, 2007, Mating in Captivity, Yellow Kite
On declining sex-activity
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/japan-sex-problem-demographic-time-bomb-birth-rates-sex-robots-fertility-crisis-virgins-romance-porn-a7831041.html
https://www.italymagazine.com/italy/science/less-sex-italian-couples-drop-male-sex-drive-blamed
Kate Julian, 2018, Why are Young People Having so Little Sex? The Atlantic
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/12/the-sex-recession/573949/
Debbie Herbenicl & Al, 2019, Changes in Penile-Vaginal Intercourse Frequency and Sexual Repertoire from 2009 to 2018: Findings from the National Survey of Sexual Health and Behavior, Archives of Sexual Behavior, vol. 51 10.1007/s10508-021-02125-2
On Dating Apps
Anna Brown, 2020, PEW research center, A profile of single Americans
https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/08/20/a-profile-of-single-americans/
On Google Searches
Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, 2017, Everybody Lies, Bloomsury
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8 - France, Champion of... of what?
France has the highest fertility in Europe. It owes this privilege to its culture and history. The French woman, and even more, the idealized French woman, is the reason for this exception. Beyond France, this episode travels through Europe, North, South, and East and then North America and tells of a world that is being emptied of humans but is being filled... with wolves.
Un podcast de David Duhamel produit par MaisonK Prod
Musique originale : Ben Molinaro
Graphisme : Anna Toussaint
Sources
George Alter et Gregory Clark, 2010, The Demographic Transition and Human Capiltal, in Stephen Broadberry, and Kevin O'Rourke, The Cambridge Economic History of Modern Europe: Volume 1, 1700-1870. Cambridge University Press.
Jordan Nickerson and David H. Solomon, 2020, Car Seats as Contraception, SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3665046
https://ourworldindata.org/fertility-rate
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7 - China: A Paper Dragon?
Will China rule the 21st century? Isn’t this THE question of our time? Well, get ready because this episode delivers a definitive answer. Spoiler Alert! There will be mentions of the Last Generation, of Missing Women, of a loneliness epidemic. A talk with Heidi, a former student from Shanghai will bring us closer to the truth: that Chinese decline is already engraved in its demography
Un podcast de David Duhamel produced by MaisonK Prod
Original music : Ben Molinaro
Illustration : Anna Toussaint
Sources:
Isabelle Attané, 2022, China’s New Three-Child Policy:
What Effects Can We Expect?, Population and Societies n°596
Yi Fuxian
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/china-2020-census-inflates-population-figures-downplays-demographic-challenge-by-yi-fuxian-2021-08
On “effeminate men”,
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/31/opinion/china-masculinity.html
On Butler cafés
https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1008384/chinas-hottest-new-rental-service-men-who-actually-listen
On Dating classes
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/peoplesdaily/article-3244423/Chinese-university-offer-new-course-dating-students-marks-partner.html
On the latest population projections
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/12/05/key-facts-about-chinas-declining-population/
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