Can a country shrink its population and still grow its economy? Japan lost about 800,000 people in 2023 alone, yet its GDP per capita has held up better than many countries with growing populations, partly through automation and higher female labor participation. I'm not convinced that's a general rule, though — smaller places like South Korea and Italy show the strain of aging faster than they can adapt. So when demographers warn about population decline, are they describing a real economic cliff, or just a transition we haven't learned to manage yet?