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by maxglute 665 days ago
> catastrophic for a country's ability to maintain its economy

Productivity of 10s of new STEM every few years > productivity of 300m of subsistence farmers / low skill workers in informal economy. Having a lot of surplus people helps in some domains of development / consumption, it's a drag in others, i.e. per capita food/energy security. Thinking about PRC being just 20% less crowded during holidays/events is still pretty stressful.