When a country like China has a very low fertility rate, the population ages and healthcare costs soar, causing a serious strain on that country’s social and financial resources. Population decline also leads to a shrinking workforce, which leads to lower economic productivity and decreased innovation.

As Straight Arrow News contributor Peter Zeihan explains, China isn’t the only country with a dire demographic future. Other Northeast Asian countries like South Korea, Japan and even Taiwan will face long-term and, in some cases, irreversible consequences.

Excerpted from Peter’s Mar. 2 “Zeihan on Geopolitics” newsletter:

Today we’re talking about another region of the world competing for the title of “worst demographics” — and that, of course, is none other than Northeast Asia.

China is its own beast, and for those of you that have followed me for a while, you know where they stand. To summarize, yikes.

Japan is one of the few countries that has been able to look at this situation from a long-term view, allowing them to prepare for this (far) better than their neighbors.

South Korea is the poster child for all of the issues at hand, but if there’s a country that can somehow find a strategy to get itself out of this situation, it would be them. (And hopefully, they share it with the rest of us.)

Taiwan has been able to delay the demographic problems that these other countries are facing, but that doesn’t mean they get off scot-free. They just have some time to think about what’s coming.

I know that was a lot of doom and gloom, but at least you have Southeast Asia to look forward to.