China has an intractable demographic problem

Discussion in 'Asia' started by kazenatsu, Apr 25, 2018.

  1. kazenatsu

    kazenatsu Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    With lower birth rates, the population of China is aging, with a lower ratio of young people. This is going to present demographic problems, similar to what Japan has already experienced. There will be fewer people to work and take care of the old. On the other hand, China already has too many people, and it may ultimately raise the standard of living if the population shrinks in the long-term. So it seems China got itself into a demographic dilemma from which there is no easy way out.

    This almost assuredly is going to lead to further depopulation of the countryside and continue to cause migration of people from China's less populated West to its overcrowded cities in the Eastern region of the country, since the Eastern provinces are wealthier and more urbanized, and are the places where the lower birth rates are most pronounced. That may not be such a good thing for the country either. It will just further raise the cost of living, increase overcrowding, and there are plenty of old people in the rural Western provinces who have no one to care for them because their children migrated for jobs in the East.
     
  2. kazenatsu

    kazenatsu Well-Known Member Past Donor

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