7 Jan 2021 Share: If you've found yourself wondering if you're sinking a little recently, that may be because you are - quite literally - according to a recent research review. If the observations of these researchers are correct, around a fifth of the population of the globe may suffer from subsidence issues within the next twenty years. A new analysis suggests that, by 2040, 19% of the world's population - accounting for 21% of the global Gross Domestic Product - will be impacted by subsidence, the sinking of the ground's surface, a phenomenon often caused by human activities such as groundwater removal, and by natural causes as well.