China's population has fallen for the first time in six decades, official statistics revealed earlier this week - but this trend may not spell doom for the country in the short term, experts say.
Beyond 2030, however, demographic stress will be a drag on growth in what is currently the world's second-largest economy.
The number of Chinese people fell by 850,000 from the previous year to 1.4118 billion, the statistics showed. Its birth rate had been slowing for years, prompting a range of policies to try to slow this trend, including scrapping the country's infamous one-child policy seven years ago.
But there are no easy fixes to this conundrum, economists and demographers say, given the unique trajectory in which the Chinese population has aged in recent years.
While ageing populations have posed a challenge to economies around the world, the greater concern for China is the rapid pace at which this has been unfolding in the midst of its middle-income transition.
In short, China is getting old before it gets rich.
Its statistics bureau said this week that its population had fallen for the first time in 60 years, with the birth rate also hitting a record low - to no surprise. Some researchers believe the population decline started in 2018 and census estimates have been inaccurate. READ MORE...
