This is a major news event. Do not downplay it. Demographers have known for a long time that China's population was aging at an accelerated rate and the ratio of workers to retirees was shrinking, from 10:1 during the Maoist era to 4:1 or 3:1 today. China's population growth had slowed in the last two decades. But I did not think I would see this happen so soon.<p>The CCP might see a smaller population as easier to manage and control. But with the greying of China's workforce will come significant economic pressures. It will be more difficult for China to sustain high growth with a shrinking population. Actually, scratch that. It will be impossible. Welcome to the 2% annual growth club. It will also be difficult to escape the middle income trap.<p>China got old before it got rich.<p>The cynic in me would say that the CCP would turn a blind eye to leting Covid rip through the country in order to purge the ranks of economically unproductive seniors.
I am quite befuddled by the claims of the demographic crisis, did Chinese planners not forsee this since population dynamics models are relatively straightforward compared to say, epidemiological or climate models. Chinese Academies are quite good. Is this fear mongering by a spirited cadre of believers who might be most likely wrong or a very likely outcome?