Several countries around the world have experienced declining populations. The list below includes 19 countries that have experienced negative population growth rates. Many of the countries on the list are located in Europe, with a few exceptions, such as Syria and Japan. Data from verifiable sources such as the UN, the World Bank and the CIA Factbook indicate that between 2005 and 2015, countries like Andorra, Syria, Lithuania, Georgia and Latvia experienced negative population growth due to to different factors. All three data sources defined population as the number of all residences, regardless of citizenship or legal status, not including refugees.
Countries with declining populations
Andorra
During this period, the poorly understood population of Andorra recorded a population growth rate of -3.61%. With a population of around 77,281 (2016), the country is the eleventh-smallest in population and the sixteenth-smallest in the world. Although Andorra had the highest life expectancy in the world in 2013 (81 years) and is very rich, negative population growth is a by-product of several factors. To begin with, two-thirds of the population is not a citizen and, as a result, the government has become selective in admitting more people to the country. Second, Andorra has a low birth rate, babies 7.8 among all residents of 1,000, making it number 223 globally in terms of child births.
Syria
UN data puts the growth of the Syrian population at -2.27%. This trend is unusual because Syria has always been a fertile country with positive population growth, in addition to accepting a large number of refugees from different Arab and Muslim countries. However, things changed in 2011 after the country plunged into civil war, resulting in the displacement of almost half the population and the fact that more than 4 million Syrians were refugees in other countries. The civil war also had an impact on the country’s fertility, life expectancy and immigration. Before the war, Syria had about a year of births compared to 500,000. Among the other factors behind the negative number,
Lithuania
As of 2017, Lithuania had around 2.8 million inhabitants and a population growth of -1.63% by 2015. The main population challenge of Lithuania is emigration, since the country has a large party politician elected on the ideology of the exclusive fight against emigration. Hundreds of thousands of productive young Lithuanians leave the country, causing a “brain drain” that poses challenges for planners, politicians and decision-makers. Since the beginning of 1990, Lithuania has lost around a quarter of its population and the rate has increased after the EU joined a region which has lost up to 50 in countries like Britain. faster population decline. Those who leave cite a stagnant economy, a lack of political growth in the economy, low wages and hostile social policies such as home ownership. Current research shows that the elderly and people of low socioeconomic status dominate the population due to selective migration leading to socio-spatial polarization in certain regions where life is most fruitful.
Reasons for population decline
There are several other countries with declining populations, including Georgia (-1.21%), Latvia (-1.18%) and Romania (-0.79%). The reasons for overlapping negative population growth in these countries are low fertility, family planning, the difficult economic situation leading to poverty and unemployment, high emigration rate, insecurity like high crime rate and wars, bad weather and natural disasters. .
Countries with declining populations
| Rank | Country | Population growth rate |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Andorra | -3.61 |
| 2 | Syria | -2.27 |
| 3 | Lithuania | -1.63 |
| 4 | Georgia | -1.21 |
| 5 | Latvia | -1.18 |
| 6 | Romania | -0.79 |
| 7 | Bulgaria | -0.71 |
| 8 | Serbia | -0.47 |
| 9 | Portuel | -0.45 |
| 10 | Greece | -0.40 |
| 11 | Croatia | -0.36 |
| 12 | Ukraine | -0.36 |
| 13 | Hungary | -0.32 |
| 14 | Estonia | -0.30 |
| 15 | Spain | -0.21 |
| 16 | Bosnia herzegovina | -0.13 |
| 17 | Japan | -0.12 |
| 18 | Moldova | -0.08 |
| 19 | Albania | -0.04 |