‘I commend this book to all who are invested in Kerala’s continued advancement and its meaningful contribution to India’s evolving story.’ 

—Shri C.P. Radhakrishnan 

Vice President of India 

Kerala is widely admired as a model of human development—literate, politically aware, socially progressive and globally connected. But success carries its own risks. What happens when the very conditions that created progress begin to change? 

In Endangered: Kerala’s Demography, Drift and Destiny, entrepreneur and institution-builder Ajith Nayar examines the quiet structural shifts shaping Kerala’s future. As demographic arithmetic tightens, the working-age population shrinks while social commitments expand without matching productivity. 

Drawing parallels with ageing societies such as Japan, Italy, South Korea and Lebanon, the book argues that decline in advanced societies is rarely dramatic. It is gradual, orderly and often hidden beneath pride in past achievements. 

At the heart of Endangered lies a troubling paradox: a society that produces capable citizens for the world, yet struggles to absorb them at home.