Article on emigration of young South Koreans today finds that intense social pressures are main reasons for emigration.  Specifically,the ultra-selective education system,constant & fierce professional competition, & rigid/unreasonable social expectations.

SOLUTION: breakdown the ultra-selective education system and ultra-competitive job atmosphere.  Doing so will not lead to the economic collapse of South Korea.  On the contrary, its continued presence imperils the very existence of future Korean generations.

This needs to be done immediately as the educational,professional,& social pressure makes up to 20,000 young Koreans annually feel stifled & miserable enough to emigrate.  A significant number for RoK. Just imagine how those who feel forced to stay feel.  No wonder TFR is 0.80…

South Korean society should also make crucial jobs that are currently seen as inauspicious and undesirable (many trades, running family businesses, factory jobs etc) have the social standing they deserve. This is a huge but essential shift in current thinking.

https://www.planete-coree.com/en/background-to-emigration-of-young-south-koreans/

Absolutely incredible that China will likely see a population decline over the next 50 years that is equal to the entire population of the United States.

Ethnic Chinese TFR around the world is hitting new depths. There are a total of ~6,900,000 Chinese Malaysians (that is a larger number than the entire population of Singapore). Their TFR for 2025 was just 0.67! That’s worse than the catastrophic levels we saw in Taiwan (~0.72).

https://x.com/birthgauge/status/2023127994219528351

Heilongjiang & Shanghai are only areas larger than 6.9 million people that really give ethnic Chinese Malaysians a run for their money for the lowest TFR for ethnic Chinese crown. Shanghai has ~25M & HL ~30M people & their respective fertility rates may be as low as 0.53/.52.

Russian births hit their lowest level on record in 2025. Under 1.2 million Russians were born and over 1.8 million died. The fertility rate of the Russian federation also broke below 1.4 for the first time in almost two decades.

https://united24media.com/latest-news/russias-fertility-rate-falls-for-10th-straight-year-reaching-new-low-15285

Many Russia observers in the media consistently overlook the 2008-2016 Russian comeback cohort. That cohort saw between 1,713,000-1,942,000 births annually. The youngest in this cohort turn 18 this year. Russian conscription age begins at 18. Russian 1994-2003 cohort was the smallest & is currently impacting births.

Even if TFR stays low (below 1.4) expect births to steadily increase over the next decade as the larger cohort born from 2008 onward gradually becomes parents.

Countries never see how bad emigration can be for them until it’s far too late. Colombia could easily turn into jumbo Bulgaria or Romania demographically within decades. El Salvador in similar condition but much smaller country. Cuba in an emigration & low fertility spiral.

What Eastern Europe went through from 1990-2010 much of Latam seems doomed to repeat.

Central Asian Gen Alpha to be larger than that of Russia despite having around half the population. Even if fertility rates continue to decline, Central Asia (TJ, KZ, UZ, KG, TM) likely to have brighter demographic future than most. Only mass emigration holds them back.

Turkmenistan has recently acknowledged that mass emigration is a major crisis and dramatically increased restrictions on emigration. But as such a high percentage of the Turkmen population has already left it may be a case of too little too late.

https://jamestown.org/turkmenistan-escalates-crackdown-on-citizens-looking-to-emigrate-abroad/

As far back as 2018 & 2021 there were reports circulating that Turkmenistan’s population would be less than half its claimed 6.2M+ population. Turkmen leadership is likely amongst the worst in the region and world.

https://www.rferl.org/amp/turkmenistan-population-decline-exodus/31355045.html

~200,000 war brides & military spouses immigrated to the U.S. from East & Southeast Asia between 1945 & 1975. The specific number of spouses from 1947 to 1975 from Japan totaled 66,681, from Korea 28,205, from the Philippines 51,747, from Thailand 11,660, & from Vietnam 8,040.

Interesting piece of military & demographic history.  If this sort of demographic/social history interests you then you may want to look at David Courtright’s “Violent Land: Single Men and Social Disorder from the Frontier to the Inner City” & similar books.

According to the UN the fertility rate of ultra impoverished  South Sudan crashed from above 5.0 in 2014 to just ~3.85 less than a decade later (in 2023).   Over the same period births plummeted from around 440,000 in 2014 to just ~330,000 in 2023.  Demographic collapse is happening almost everywhere. 

Northeast China (Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning) is a real‑time experiment in demographic disintegration. Home to abandoned apartments, shuttered schools, collapsing local tax bases, hospitals consolidating/closing, & entire towns with just elderly, & losing 10% of population a decade.

The region lost ~1,000,000 people in 2024 alone with Heilongjiang losing 428,000, Liaoning 270,000, & Jilin 221,000.

https://www.visiontimes.com/2025/11/26/is-chinas-northeast-disappearing-ghost-cities-spread-as-housing-prices-collapse.html