But China also faces long-term challenges that won’t go away, beginning with an onrushing demographic decline.
The United Nations projects that China’s population will shrink roughly 40% by the end of the century, from 1.4 billion to a mere 800 million or so. Some demographers say the decline will be steeper; either way, India will soon take over as No. 1.
Source: China’s economy is slowing, its population aging. That could make it dangerous
And it’s not fixable for two reasons:
- China’s one child policy has created a society (including homes) arranged around one child. Having couples add another child is not so simple.
- In parts of China, couples have aborted female fetuses in favor of male fetuses. The result is a male skewed population with 130 males per 100 females, in some areas. This makes growing the population hard.
From a macro geopolitics perspective, does this mean that if China wishes to assert itself (such as with Taiwan) it will do this sooner rather than later, while it has a larger population?
China is not adopting the “let’s import more workers from abroad” approach of many Western nations, but instead, is planning for enhanced mechanization and automation for productivity improvements.
