Flashmag Digizine Edition Issue 107 July 2020 | Page 14

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Flashmag July 2020 www.flashmag.net

and a density of 116 inhabitants per kmĀ², the European Union is the 3rd demographic power of the globe in terms of density; after China and India and far ahead of the United States, or Africa. The problem of the Western world, like that of Asia which has since aligned itself with the capitalist development system, is exclusively linked to the aging of the population. An aging population which does not bode well for the western civilization. In the West, as in Japan or South Korea, the low birth rate coupled with aging means that the social security system no longer has enough young workers to pay for old-age pensions, which is why Western governments are striving to increase the retirement age, much to the chagrin of citizens who want to enjoy a deserved rest. This incentive for continuous work is reminiscent of the slavery of the capitalist system which always needs people to work longer, for less, to exist by profit maximization.

In China, the one-child rule, which has favored the abortion of female children, has created a huge gender imbalance. Even though the only child law was repealed in 2016, birth rates in the past two years have remained very stagnant. This plight is not new in human history, and one of the reasons for the decline of the Mayan Empire was also gender imbalance. The indigenous population of Cusco, Peru, at the time of the Spanish conquest, was stressed by an imbalance in the gender ratio, between men and women. Probably the fault of religious practices which tended to sacrifice female children.

While to compensate for the decline in the working age population, some invoke robotics, it is important to emphasize that robots, even when replacing humans at work, should produce manufactured products which should be consumed by the population, so that the capitalist system continues to spin; and it is well known that an old population is generally sedentary, and less spendthrift because no longer producing wealth, it consumes less, because of old age as well as limited means. One would hardly see Japanese people over 70 cashing 209,198 yen per month (1,758 euros) on average go to nightclubs, buy the latest fashion clothes, or go water skiing, while several studies admit that Japanese retirees need at least 263,718 yen (2,216 euros) to live decently.

In North America, if the situation of Canada larger than the United States in area and only populated by 30 million inhabitants, remains problematic in spite of the incitement to immigration of Canadian authorities, in the United States despite its 307 million inhabitants, the situation is no less serious,

Berlin Wall