Just4kids: If people stopped having babies, how long until humans were all gone?

► If people stopped having babies, how long would it be before humans were all gone? – Jeffrey

Very few people live beyond a century. So, if no one had babies anymore, there would probably be no humans left on Earth within 100 years. But first, the population would shrink as older folks died and no one was being born.

Even if all births were to suddenly cease, this decline would start slowly.

Eventually there would not be enough young people coming of age to do essential work, causing societies throughout the world to quickly fall apart. Some of these breakdowns would be in humanity’s ability to produce food, provide health care and do everything else we all rely on.

Food would become scarce even though there would be fewer people to feed.

As an anthropology professor who has spent