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I think there are, however, two primary "mechanisms" that produce what, to many people, appears to be declines, albeit temporary ones, and neither of them have much to do with Morgoth, at least directly. (Indeed none of the artifacts described would have been made if not for Morgoth.)

I think there are, however, two primary "mechanisms" that produce what, to many people, appears to be declines, albeit temporary ones, and neither of them have much to do with Morgoth, at least directly. (Indeed none of the artifacts described would have been made if not for Morgoth. In fact, as Eru tells Melkor that all his doings will ultimately only redound to the greater glory of Eru, and make the World "so much the more wonderful and marvellous." )

1. The Elves peaked just before and during the First Age, after thousands to tens of thousands of years.

2. Men within the time of the story peaked at the end of the Second Age, after at least thousands of years. Well, if they lived in Numenor or its colonies. For most Men, they were better off in the Third Age.

3. The Two Trees themselves, if we regard that as Peak Valar, did not come until after ages and ages of ceaseless labor.

The real wonder is that the Dwarves were able to maintain any population until the Fourth Age at all! We know there must not be very many dwarven settlements, because Tolkien also notes they are very loathe to migrate, and we know that the Dwarves were involved in many very costly and ruinous wars, and in the Third Age had lost Moria and the Kingdom-under-the-Mountain. You could easily see how the War of the Orcs and Dwarves, under these conditions, may have set off a terminal population decline.

1. The Elves peaked just before and during the First Age, after thousands to tens of thousands of years.

2. Men within the time of the story peaked at the end of the Second Age, after at least thousands of years. Well, if they lived in Numenor or its colonies. For most Men, they were better off in the Third Age. Also don't forget that fairly quickly after their awakening, all Men became Morgoth-worshippers, so pretty much all the Mannish populations we actually see are "greater" than they were in their beginning in the moral sense.

3. The Two Trees themselves, if we regard that as Peak Valar, did not come until after ages and ages of ceaseless labor.

The real wonder is that the Dwarves were able to maintain any population until the Fourth Age at all! (For comparison, consider that women are approximately half of our population, and 85-90% of women have children by the end of childbearing age, even now. For Tolkien only the married have children, so this means that at best dwarves have only one-third, proportionally, the reproductive population as humans.) We know there must not be very many dwarven settlements, because Tolkien also notes they are very loathe to migrate, and we know that the Dwarves were involved in many very costly and ruinous wars, and in the Third Age had lost Moria and the Kingdom-under-the-Mountain. You could easily see how the War of the Orcs and Dwarves, under these conditions, may have set off a terminal population decline.

Lastly, let's not forget that the world ends in the utter end of everything evil and bad, the eternal triumph of Eru, and Arda Healed.

Finally, lets remember that there is still magic in the world today: the most powerful magical artifact made was Morgoth's Ring: Morgoth infused his power and magic into all matter, influencing and corrupting the world and the people in it to this day:

Melkor 'incarnated' himself (as Morgoth) permanently. He did this so as to control the hroa,2 the 'flesh' or physical matter, of Arda. He attempted to identify himself with it. A vaster, and more perilous, procedure, though of similar sort to the operations of Sauron with the Rings. Thus, outside the Blessed Realm, all 'matter' was likely to have a 'Melkor ingredient',3 and those who had bodies, nourished by the hroa of Arda, had as it were a tendency, small or great, towards Melkor: they were none of them wholly free of him in their incarnate form, and their bodies had an effect upon their spirits. [...] Morgoth's vast power was disseminated. The whole of 'Middle-earth' was Morgoth's Ring, though temporarily his attention was mainly upon the North-west. [..] No such eradication of Morgoth was possible, since this required the complete disintegration of the 'matter' of Arda. Sauron's power was not (for example) in gold as such, but in a particular form or shape made of a particular portion of total gold. Morgoth's power was disseminated throughout Gold, if nowhere absolute (for he did not create Gold) it was nowhere absent. (It was this Morgoth-element in matter, indeed, which was a prerequisite for such 'magic' and other evils as Sauron practised with it and upon it.) (HoME, Morgoth's Ring)

There is no reason to preclude the possibility that even today, there are secret Sauron-cults practicing some kind of "magic".