underpopulation
Too few inhabitants
Underpopulation is the condition of having too few people relative to resources, economic needs, or social sustainability.
The term implies an optimal population exists and the current one falls short: Japan faces underpopulation as birth rates decline.
Unlike overpopulation, which dominates public discourse, underpopulation concerns typically arise in aging societies worried about labor shortages and economic stagnation.
Leaving homeland permanently
- outmigrationDeparture from a region
- exodusMass departure from somewhere
- outflowFluid exiting a system
- diasporaScattered population sharing origins
Decrease in size
- dwindlingProgressively becoming smaller
- diminutionReduction in size
- childlessnessLacking any offspring
Advocacy for higher birthrates
- natalismIdeology promoting human reproduction
- revitalizationRestoring vigor or vitality
emigration
Leaving homeland permanently
- outmigrationDeparture from a region
- exodusMass departure from somewhere
- outflowFluid exiting a system
shrinkage
Decrease in size
- dwindlingProgressively becoming smaller
- diminutionReduction in size
- childlessnessLacking any offspring
underdevelopment
Inadequate economic or social progress
pronatalism
Advocacy for higher birthrates
- natalismIdeology promoting human reproduction
- revitalizationRestoring vigor or vitality
hinterland
Remote area beyond settlements
- backwaterStagnant side channel
- population termsbillion, million, thousand, hundred, census
- demographybirth rate, death rate, demographics, fertility rate, mortality rate
- Cellular AutomataGame of Life, glider, oscillator, spaceship, blinker
- population ecologycarrying capacity, birth rate, death rate, exponential growth, mortality
- demographicsage distribution, gender ratio, ethnic groups, birth rate, census data
- migrationmigration, immigrants, refugees, immigration, emigration
underpopulationoverpopulation
Unsustainable density of inhabitants
overcrowding · population explosion · overcrowdedness · population boom · congestion
population, populism, popularity, populate, populace, popularize, populated, popularly, populous