China's population has shrunk for the third year in a row, raising concerns about demographic challenges. The country faces an aging population and a shortage of working-age individuals. While the economy grew by 5% in 2024, government efforts to boost birth rates have had limited success.
China's population fell last year for the third straight year, pointing to further demographic challenges for the world's second-most populous nation, which is now facing both an aging population and an emerging shortage of working-age people.
The population figures announced by the government in Beijing follow trends worldwide, but especially in East Asia, where Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and other nations have seen their birth rates plummet. After the end of the Cultural Revolution and leader Mao Zedong's death, Communist bureaucrats began to worry the country’s population was outstripping its ability to feed itself and began implementing a draconian one-child policy.
That has been the biggest factor in China’s lopsided sex ratio, with as many as millions more boys born for every 100 girls, raising the possibility of social instability among China’s army of bachelors. Already, more than one-fifth of the population is aged 60 or over, with the official figure given as 310.3 million or 22 per cent of the total population.
Government inducements including cash payouts for having up to three children and financial help with housing costs have had only temporary effects.China's economy grew faster in the December quarter than what had been forecasted, but annual growth has been slowing as the aging population puts pressure on the nation's finances.
Economy POPULATION DECLINE CHINA ECONOMY BIRTH RATE AGING POPULATION
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