China’s population shrank for the first time in decades last year as its birthrate plunged, official figures showed Tuesday.
BEIJING — China’s population shrank for the first time in decades last year as its birthrate plunged, official figures showed Tuesday, adding to pressure on leaders to keep the economy growing despite an aging workforce and at a time of rising tension with the U.S.
“China has become older before it has become rich,” said Yi Fuxian, a demographer and expert on Chinese population trends at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. It wasn’t clear if the population figures were affected by a widespread COVID-19 outbreak following the easing of pandemic restrictions last month. China recently reported 60,000 COVID-related deaths since early December, but some experts believe the government is likely underreporting deaths.
Zhang Huimin bemoaned the “fierce competition” young people face these days — a fairly typical attitude toward starting a family among her age group. The looming economic crisis will be worse than Japan’s, where years of low growth have been blamed in part on a shrinking population, Yi said. Its labor costs have already begun to rise — and changing demographics will likely accelerate that trend. As a result, inflation could creep higher in countries that import China’s products, though production may also move to lower-cost countries such as Vietnam, as it already has.
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