19 August

The great demographer David Foot predicts which societies will succeed and which won't by looking at their demographics, the distribution of people across different age groups. For example he sees Germany, Russia and Japan as ageing so quickly, they will struggle to remain world powers (the image on this post is for Japan). Most Western countries are the same, ageing rapidly. Some countries like India on the other hand have far too many young people, which could lead to mass unemployment and social chaos. To quote Foot: “The countries of the future are Brazil, Turkey and Mexico because they have educated females, lower birth rates, but are younger demographically so they can increase living standards by employing everyone,” he said. “Indonesia is on the cusp of taking off with the right political decisions and Mexico will, but needs to improve its institutions.”