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'''Depopulation''' means any massive reduction in the [[population]] of [[human]] beings or other forms of life in any given area. It can also stand for a deliberate [[government]] policy seeking that as an end in itself.
Depopulation can occur in any of several ways. One can simply kill large numbers of individuals of the target species, or ethnic group. The [[Holocaust]] gives the most instructive, and horrific, example in human history.
Or one can render individuals infertile, or cause them to render themselves infertile. [[John Holdren]], writing with [[Paul Ehrlich]] and his wife, sought to identify a ''sterilant,'' specific to humans, to add to public [[water]] supplies. But one need not [[poison]] the water to stop people from having children. One need merely persuade enough people to indulge in practices likely to postpone or cancel any plans for childbearing or siring, or merely to stop children, once conceived, from being born. These practices include without limitation:
* [[Abortion]]
* [[Contraception]]
* [[Homosexuality]] and to a lesser extent [[bisexuality]]
* [[Transsexuality]]
* [[Sterilization]], usually [[surgery|surgical]]
A government, or a controlling elite, might pursue depopulation to make the remaining population easier to control, or merely to rid the earth of certain groups they do not care to share the earth with. But to carry out such a policy without war, ''they must persuade people to accept the elements of that policy.'' Usually that means hiding the goal and "selling" personal [[license]] as an ideal. But sometimes that means ''avowing'' a goal of reducing the world's population, on the ground that a population will always grow beyond acceptable and "sustainable" levels without strict government control. [[Thomas R. Malthus]] famously suggested this long before Paul Ehrlich did.
[[Category:Political science]]