Editor's Note: The following summary is part of the Stratfor Center for Applied Geopolitics' Demographic Decline and Military Manpower report, which can be found here . Are demographics destiny? Changes underway in population configurations are strikingly unprecedented in human history. Just a few decades ago, the world was concerned with overpopulation, despite this being the more normal trend in human history. Depopulation has not occurred since the Black Death in the 1300s, but now aging and shrinking populations proliferate — forcing governments to grapple with how to address demographic decline. Since the end of the Cold War, there has been a shift in global demographic patterns. The developed world has seen decreases in marriage and birth rates, leading to slowing, stagnating or even negative population growth. In the developing world, slowing population growth rates still remain far above natural replacement rates.