depopulating
Reducing inhabitant numbers
Depopulating describes the process of reducing a population—whether through emigration, declining birth rates, disease, or violence.
A region may be depopulating gradually as young people leave for cities, or rapidly through war or famine: Rural areas have been depopulating for decades.
The term applies to places losing inhabitants, not to the inhabitants themselves.
Mass departure from somewhere
- emigrationLeaving homeland permanently
- rural flightCountryside-to-city population shift
- brain drainEmigration of skilled workers
- outflowFluid exiting a system
diaspora · abandonment · evacuation · displacement · relocation · desertion · outmigration · flight
Deserted former inhabited place
- abandonedLeft behind completely
- vacancyUnoccupied space or position
- derelictionAbandonment of duty
- urban decayCity infrastructure deterioration
blight · disinvestment · emptiness · ruins · hollowing out · shuttered · fertility decline · economic decline
Widespread disease occurrence
- pandemicGlobal disease outbreak
- plagueDeadly epidemic disease
- outbreakSudden eruption of trouble
- mortalityState of eventual death
contagion · pestilence · famine · die-off · decimation · Black Death · smallpox · cholera
exodus
Mass departure from somewhere
- emigrationLeaving homeland permanently
- rural flightCountryside-to-city population shift
- brain drainEmigration of skilled workers
outflow · diaspora · abandonment · evacuation · displacement · relocation · desertion · outmigration · flight · expulsion
ghost town
Deserted former inhabited place
- abandonedLeft behind completely
- vacancyUnoccupied space or position
- derelictionAbandonment of duty
urban decay · blight · disinvestment · emptiness · ruins · hollowing out · shuttered · fertility decline · economic decline · deindustrialization
epidemic
Widespread disease occurrence
mortality · contagion · pestilence · famine · die-off · decimation · Black Death · smallpox · cholera · typhus
depopulatingpopulating
Filling with occupants
repopulating · overpopulating · growing · booming · expanding
depopulatingsettling
Reaching resolution or rest
colonizing · inhabiting · occupying · resettling · populating