Chapter 280: Population
“Luo Er, speak up.”
Hans·Ming suddenly changed his tone, trying to lighten the atmosphere in the meeting room a bit, and smiled at Hans·Luo Er, who was in charge of the Ministry of Personnel among the imperial family members over there.
“Uh, as you command, Your Majesty.”
Luo Er was clearly startled by this sudden change in atmosphere, making him somewhat uneasy.
He subconsciously glanced at Prime Minister Mai Si on the other side, whose expression was clearly not good, and couldn’t help but feel a bit delighted inside.
Finally, he saw this old guy who clashed with the imperial family every day being deflated.
300 years ago, he had strongly opposed this old guy taking the position of Prime Minister as a regent minister.
However, at that time, the late emperor was already advanced in age, and for the smooth transition of the empire’s inheritance, he appointed the very capable old minister Mai Si, who was the late emperor’s confidant at the time.
At that time, the Hans Civilization’s average lifespan was only 300 years.
Letting him serve as Prime Minister was because, one, he indeed had impressive abilities in civil affairs, and two, he was already nearly 280 years old at the time, which, compared to their long lifespan, was almost at the end of his life.
But who would have thought that after the late emperor passed away and the new emperor ascended the throne, the Hans Civilization came into contact with the Galactic Alliance and even discovered more advanced life-extending drugs in the starfield market.
This directly doubled the average lifespan of the upper echelons of the Hans Civilization at the time, approaching the 600-year mark.
And this led to this old guy, relying on his personal skills, his status as regent minister, and the opportunity when the new emperor was young and incapable of handling political affairs, gradually solidifying his position over the following time and progressively taking control of two departments crucial to the empire.
Ministry of War and Ministry of Revenue.
One hand grasping military power, the other grasping financial authority.
After gaining these two key departments, Mai Si was very measured and did not reach for the remaining Ministry of Personnel, Ministry of Rites, Ministry of Industry, Ministry of Justice, and such departments.
This resulted in the empire’s current extremely awkward situation where imperial power and prime ministerial power are sharply opposed.
However, 300 years later, at this meeting crucial to the empire today, this young emperor finally raised the scepter of imperial power again.
With an arrogant posture, he suppressed this decrepit old Prime Minister, who dared not rebel.
It was truly satisfying.
“Luo Er!”
From the throne, Hans·Ming, growing a bit impatient, called out in his icy tone.
Luo Er snapped back to attention, hurriedly realizing it wasn’t time to celebrate yet, and immediately stood up, slowly presenting the information he had already prepared in his mind:
“Your Majesty, according to the intelligence we currently have, the total population of Human Civilization, including both new and old population, is approximately 2.5 billion.
In their population structure, it is basically based on monogamy, with each couple reproducing and surviving by having 1-2 children.
Among them, the gestation period is about ten months, which is basically no different from our civilization’s one year.
In our investigation, there are two reasons that may cause this phenomenon, though other reasons are not excluded.
First is their short lifespan.
According to our statistics, the intelligent lifeforms of Human Civilization, after undergoing their current medical technology treatment, already have an average lifespan of 170 years.
This is nearly half as low as the over 300 years that our current ordinary citizens have.
Their excessively short lifespan may be the reason why the intelligent lifeforms of their civilization are not keen on having too many children.
Additionally, in our investigation, this civilization places extreme emphasis on enjoyment.
Taking mineral workers in the mining field as an example, among the workers engaged in this industry in Human Civilization, they only need to work 4 days a week.
Not only that, but they only need to work 8 hours a day, and they also have various holidays and up to a week’s rest time.
In summary, compared to our civilization’s mining workers’ annual working hours of 6600 hours, the intelligent lifeforms of Human Civilization only need to work about 2000 hours a year.
Therefore, my judgment is that in their civilization, they place extreme emphasis on enjoyment.
And in such a survival environment that emphasizes enjoyment, the fertility rate of intelligent lifeforms generally naturally declines, maintaining around 1-2 children per lifetime.
Currently, Human Civilization’s population growth rate is about 2% per year, which has to be said is an extremely low figure.
The above is my prediction of this civilization’s population development trend.
However, according to another situation we have learned, the physical structure of Human Civilization allows them to give birth to at least 15 children in a lifetime without affecting their lifespan.
In comparison, the female intelligent lifeforms of our Hans Civilization can give birth to at most 10 children in a lifetime.
So, just from this point, this civilization’s population growth potential is enormous.”
Luo Er first reported on the population formation and other data of Human Civilization, interspersed with the analysis conclusions from the imperial family’s think tank.
After these words were spoken, the meeting room inevitably filled with buzzing low voices of discussion.
As is well known, in the Galactic Alliance, population is a crucial component for civilization development.
In an abnormal development environment that prohibits any intelligent equipment, the quantity of population largely determines a civilization’s productivity.
And now, in this backward star domain, there is actually such a race with such powerful reproductive capacity.
It must be known that among the surrounding civilizations, the reproductive capacity of Hans Civilization’s intelligent lifeforms is already considered top-tier.
And compared to Human Civilization, it falls far short.
As soon as Luo Er said these words, while everyone discussed, their eyes couldn’t help but show some eagerness.
After all, from another perspective, population is also a kind of resource.
Just like the current situation, Hans Civilization can lease numerous unemployed mineral workers to Human Civilization for use.
And if done in another way.
For example, population trafficking on the starfield market.
It is also a kind of ‘resource’.
It must be known that in the vast Galactic Alliance, many civilizations have very low reproductive capacity, and there are even races that can only give birth to one child in a lifetime.
And these races’ development methods undoubtedly rely on plundering, buying, leasing population, and such ways to drive industrial development.
Hans·Ming was extremely satisfied with Luo Er’s words.
If before this, Prime Minister Mai Si’s words could still make these people obey unquestioningly.
Then now, after the news of Human Civilization’s extremely strong population reproductive capacity came out, a flame of eagerness inevitably rose in the eyes of these high-ranking officials.
No rush, Human Civilization has far more than just these.
Hans·Ming recalled everything about Human Civilization in his mind, and suddenly felt a bit sour inside.
This is truly a race favored by the gods.
