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China’s population declines for second straight year (www.siasat.com)

submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] jimmydoreisalefty 19 points 10 months ago (3 children)

"My husband and I do want to have a kid but we can't afford it for now," said Wang Chengyi, a 31-year-old woman in Beijing.

She told the BBC she and her partner needed to save money for another three years to provide for the costs of having a child - taking into account school expenses in particular.

"I do want to get pregnant while I'm young as it's better for my health. However, I just don't have enough money for now so I have to postpone. It's a shame and I feel panic over it sometimes," she said.

"China is no different to other countries that have deindustrialised and moved into the service sector. The population becomes more educated and skilled and healthier, and they want to do other jobs rather than work in factories or construction," said Prof Gietel-Basten.

"The government is aware of this and has planned for this over the past decade and so it's expected to continue with this kind of direction."

China records population decline for second straight year [Jan 17 2024 | Frances Mao | BBC News]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-68002803

Many people are delaying marriage or choosing not to have children. Even those who do often have only one child because of the high cost of educating children in cities in a highly competitive academic environment. The population of women of child-bearing age has also fallen.

Local governments are offering incentives for new children. A municipality in China’s Inner Mongolia region has started offering payments of 2,000 yuan ($280) for a second child and 5,000 yuan ($700) for a third, as well as requiring that employers give an extra 60 and 90 days of paid maternity leave for the second and third child respectively, according to an online report by state-owned China National Radio.

But Yuan Xin, a professor at Nankai University and vice-president of the China Population Association, added that “the downward trend in China’s total population is bound to be long-term and become an inherent characteristic.”

China’s population falls for a 2nd straight year as births drop even after end of one-child policy [Jan 17 2024 | Ken Moritsugu | Associated Press News]

https://apnews.com/article/china-population-births-deaths-covid-b0ec148b3f8db6b2863aeca02078bd7a

[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago

I've seen people argue the real numbers of the decline for China are much worse than they have shared and they may already be past the point of no return like Japan and South Korea. It's going to be interesting to see how they handle an aging population.

Asia does have a more recent tradition of kids being the retirement plan so they might fair a little better than places like the US where that is not the norm anymore. The US with their infrastructure crumbling from underfunding and a general lack of care, should provide a good side by side comparison of the ride down with the differences of family versus industry support of seniors.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

China's industrial capacity stretches pretty much the entire spectrum. Instead of offshoring entirely, China has opted for automating traditionally labour-intensive manufacturing industries, which is why China now has the fifth-highest robot density in the world.

[–] TheBat 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

"China is no different to other countries that have deindustrialised and moved into the service sector. The population becomes more educated and skilled and healthier, and they want to do other jobs rather than work in factories or construction," said Prof Gietel-Basten.

Deindustrialised? China?

Who's making all the stuff then?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

China still makes a majority of the stuff, due to being local to raw resources (chinas major power in the industry, resource logistics), but for businesses that dont require as many resources being nearby, you see production move, mainly into countries in south eastern asia, like Thailand or Vietnam.