History Future Now

Data-driven analysis of the structural forces — demographic, technological, economic —
that will shape the next century.


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Recently published analysis across all sections.

New Part 2

The Scramble For The Solar System: Why The Next Colonial Race Has Already Begun

SpaceX is building Starship production lines at scale. China plans a permanent lunar base by 2030. NASA's Artemis programme aims to return Americans to the Moon…

Read article → 11 min · 1 chart · Audio
New Part 3

The New Literacy: How AI Is Killing The Scribes And What Happens Next

For five thousand years, if you could not write, you hired a scribe. If you could not code, you hired a developer. AI has just made everyone literate in the dig…

Read article → 15 min · 5 charts · Audio
New Part 3

The Return of the State Factory: Why Nations That Forgot How To Make Things Are Remembering

In February 2026, the United States signed a trade deal with Taiwan that included $250 billion in semiconductor investment pledges. Tariffs are back. Industrial…

Read article → 10 min · 1 chart · Audio
New Part 3

The Robot Bargain: How AI Will Save Ageing Nations From The Immigration Trap

Microsoft's AI chief predicts virtually all white-collar tasks will be automated within 18 months. South Korea's fertility rate is 0.72. Japan sells more adult…

Read article → 12 min · 1 chart · Audio
New Part 4

The Gates of Nations: How Every Civilisation in History Controlled Immigration — Until the West Stopped

For five thousand years, every successful civilisation tightly controlled who could enter, settle, and become a citizen. Then, in the space of a single generati…

Read article → 12 min · 3 charts · Audio
New Part 4

The Empty Cradle Bargain: Why Falling Birth Rates Are Everyone's Problem

On a single street in a Western city, five families have one child and two have two. That is nine children where fifteen are needed. Some chose this. Some wante…

Read article → 21 min · 6 charts · Audio
New Part 4

The Death Of The Fourth Estate: What The Collapse Of Newspapers Means For Democracy, Power, And Truth

On February 4th 2026, a Washington Post reporter in a warzone in Ukraine learned by text message that she had been laid off. Nearly half the newsroom was gone i…

Read article → 20 min · 4 charts · Audio
New Part 4

The Great Emptying: How Collapsing Birth Rates Will Reshape Power, Politics And People

In a small town in southern Italy, a school closed last year. Not because of budget cuts. Because there were no children left. That empty classroom is the futur…

Read article → 12 min · 10 charts · Audio
New Part 4

Who Guards The Guards? Bureaucracy, Empire, And The Eternal Struggle To Control The State

Elon Musk's DOGE initiative has identified $215 billion in US government savings and aims for $2 trillion. The EU's regulatory apparatus grows by thousands of p…

Read article → 10 min · 1 chart · Audio
New Part 4

The Silence Of The Scribes: How Every Civilisation That Controlled Speech Collapsed

In February 2026, India ordered social media platforms to remove content within three hours of a government request. The EU's Digital Services Act empowers bure…

Read article → 10 min · 1 chart · Audio
The Big Picture

Who Runs the World Economy?

Western dominance was a 200-year anomaly. The world is reverting to the historical mean.

Source: Maddison Project, IMF · Read the full analysis →

62Articles
132Interactive Charts
14+Hours of Analysis
500Years of History
62Audio Articles

Listen to History

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Data Stories

Every article backed by interactive data visualisations. Explore the numbers behind history.

Nearly half of Soviet men aged 18-30 were killed in WW2

The Unintended Consequences of War →

Solar costs fell 99% in 40 years

The Renewables & Battery Revolution →

A loaf of bread cost 3 billion Marks by 1923

Debt Jubilees & Hyperinflation →

South Korea: 0.72 children per woman

The Separation of Sex & Procreation →

60+ revolutions in 350 years

What Does It Take To Start A Revolution? →

No country has recovered from sub-1.5 fertility

The Great Emptying →

€800 billion: Europe rearming at unprecedented speed

Europe Rearms →

US newspaper jobs down 80% since 1990

The Death of the Fourth Estate →

Western dominance was a 200-year anomaly

The Rise of the West Was Based on Luck →

Robot costs falling below human labour

Robotics and Slavery →

COVID accelerated deglobalisation by a decade

The Long-Term Impact of COVID-19 →

By 2100, Africa will have 4 billion people

History Is Written By The Winners →

Taiwan makes 63% of the world's advanced chips

Why China Could Invade Taiwan →

Launch costs fell from $54,500 to $200/kg

The Scramble for the Solar System →

Foreign-born populations tripled since 1970

The Gates of Nations →

North Africa will outnumber Southern Europe by 2030

The North African Threat →

Manufacturing fell from 30% to 11% of US GDP

The Return of the State Factory →

US federal regulations grew 18x since 1950

Who Guards the Guards? →

Human life expectancy: from 30 to 150 years

The 150-Year Life →

India made 78,500 content removal requests in 2024

The Silence of the Scribes →

🌍 Part 1: Natural Resources

Energy, food, water, land — the physical foundations that every civilisation depends on.

All 11 →

⚖️ Part 2: Global Balance of Power

How nations rise, compete, and decline — from colonial empires to modern China.

All 14 →

⚙️ Part 3: Jobs & Economy

Automation, trade, debt, and the future of work in an age of intelligent machines.

All 13 →

🏛️ Part 4: Society

Democracy, religion, migration, identity — the human systems that bind us together.

All 24 →
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