The Chinese government revealed data on Tuesday that caught the world off guard. China had a population of 1.411 billion in 2020, but this number will dwindle in the future. The Chinese wanted to limit population growth, but the current data could hurt the country in the future.
Few couples have children, and the workforce is aging. China has a society dominated by elderly individuals because of recent laws from the government.
China’s Population by the Numbers
Over the past decade, China’s population grew by 72 million. The country does a census once every ten years, and this exponential growth was expected. People were not surprised by the population of the country, but the growth rate did catch people by surprise.
China has limited growth to less than one percent at 0.53%. This number was recorded between 2010 and 2020. It was down 0.04% from the previous decade, which means that policies are working. However, this squeeze of the young will hurt the country in the future if the trend continues.
Shrinking the Younger Generations
The Chinese government has implemented birth laws since 1980 to prevent a population explosion. The country’s population has grown drastically, but the laws are genuinely beginning to stop the surge.
China survives in the world because of its production-oriented economy. Therefore, the recent census data is alarming for the government. The working-age is shrinking, but there are not enough people in the next generation to replace the void.
The Chinese government has known that the decline was coming for years. Birth limits have been reduced, but the mentality is still engrained in the country. When a government prevents parents from having children since 1980, it’s hard to remove this cultural value.
Parents have realized that it’s much cheaper to have one child. Mothers in the country face job discrimination at an alarming rate, which puts parents in a financial hole. Also, due to the country’s population, houses are tiny, which makes living cramped. More children would make living more difficult for many couples in the nation.
The Chinese government must find a way to change the culture that began in 1980, or their prosperous economy could fade into oblivion in the extended future.
The Details of the Data
People in China tend to work for a long time, but young citizens can produce at the highest level. In 2011, there were 925 million people aged 15 to 59. This number shrunk 5% to 894 million. The segment of the country that grew drastically was the 60 and over group.
Adults take care of their elders in China, which is another reason it will be hard for the population to rebound. Adults taking care of the elderly is another financial liability that will prevent children from being born.
In 2020, there were 2.6 million fewer babies born than in 2019. Census workers have referred to the situation as a demographic time bomb. The population still grew in 2020, but the rapid decline of working-age people in China is a concern for the government.
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