Population

 Newsweek - In an analysis of 236 countries and territories around the world, 40 were estimated to have shrinking populations, with some experiencing a decline of 1 percent a year, or more. The data was compiled as part of the United States government's World Factbook, published by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

"This [pattern of decline] is mostly due to persistently low (and in some cases extreme low) fertility rates, especially in many countries in Europe, and East Asia (but also in Puerto Rico and Cuba)," Tomas Sobotka, a senior researcher at the Wittgenstein Center for Demography and Global Human Capital and deputy director of the Vienna Institute of Demography, told Newsweek. "Countries with sharp population decline often combine low fertility, outmigration and relatively old population structures. Especially South-eastern and Eastern European countries have seen their populations shrinking rapidly due to a combination of intensive outmigration and persistent low fertility."

According to the CIA data, the countries and territories with the fastest shrinking populations are as follows:

• Cook Islands—shrinking by 2.24 percent every year
• American Samoa
• Saint Pierre and Miquelon
• Puerto Rico
• Latvia
• Lithuania
• Poland
• Romania
• Estonia
• Federated States of Micronesia