Web Desk (LTN NEWS): Officials say that China’s population will start to go down in 2025 as families get smaller and people get older.
The country with the most people is facing a looming demographic crisis because its workforce is getting older quickly, its economy is slowing, and its population growth is the slowest it has been in decades.
Even though the “one-child policy” was eased in 2016 and couples were allowed to have three children last year, the birth rate has dropped to a record low.
“The growth rate of the total population has slowed down a lot, and it will enter a stage of negative growth in the 14th Five-Year Plan period,” the National Health Commission said on Monday, referring to the time between 2021 and 2025.
In January, officials said that they thought the population would stop growing or even go down over the next five years.
In its most recent report, the NHC said, “Our country’s policy system for helping women give birth is not perfect, and there is a big gap between the growth of the population and what people want.”
In recent years, the total fertility rate has dropped below 1.3, and the country is expected to enter a stage of rapid aging around 2035 when more than 30% of the population will be over 60 years old.
The size of families is also getting smaller, which is “weakening” the roles of pensions and child care, according to the health commission. They called for better support for raising children and policies on housing, education, and taxes to help reduce the burdens on families.
