Virtual memory[1] is useful for a number of things[2], but can takes up a large amount of die space and development time during the development of a CPU to be both efficient and correct. With the advent of 64+ bit architectures and cheap memory available today, an extended address space and paging aren't specifically needed for many tasks. Memory safe, high level languages[3] need less 'isolation' and 'protection' from a VM subsystem than traditional languages like C and C++. Page tables help the OS organize non-contiguous physical memory for applications, but is that as much an issue today, especially for symbolic and object based languages?
If one was to design a new 'high level' language CPU today, would it be seen as advantageous to include a traditional multi-level page table based virtual memory system, or could the resources be put to better use in other areas of the chip design?
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_memory
[2] The primary benefits of virtual memory include freeing applications from having to manage a shared memory space, increased security due to memory isolation, and being able to conceptually use more memory than might be physically available, using the technique of paging.
[3] http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=327133