Low birthrate and aging population pose serious threat to China's economy | DW News

The Communist Party Congress is in full swing in Beijing and Chinese stocks are up that as Premier Li Keqiang vows to support economic growth. He made the remarks at the ongoing congress and just a day after China delayed the release of economic indicators scheduled for publication this week, including its third-quarter GDP data. Investors are closely watching the congress where the party's General Secretary Xi Jinping is expected to be given a third term in office.

Despite government leaders stressing that things are looking up Chinese economic growth has recently faltered. For a long-term boost, state and party leader Xi Jinping is relying on domestic consumption However, there's a problem. China's population is ageing last year, roughly 18 percent of the population were younger than 14. And 13 percent were older than 65. The United Nations expect a significant shift by 20-50. By then only 11 percent of Chinese will be under 14 and seniors over 65 will make up a full third of the nation's population.

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[ska]

Except in countries like Pakistan 🇵🇰 and in Africa, most countries have reduced population growth

[_Kirby]

To the DW staff in charge of the sound mixing of these interviews: Please monitor the mic volume of your interviewer a little more closely, you can constantly hear his nose breathing and other chest noises that are mixed to almost the same volume as the person he's talking with, it's incredibly distracting and kind of laughably poor quality, and has been going on for *months* now.

[Bajtjr]

This poses a threat to basically most of the developed world, it is where the people are poorer and have the least means to provide a child with a great life that usually have the most children.

[haskalah]

Japan, Germany, Italy have the same problem

[JSDudeca]

It takes 18 years to make an 18 year old.

[mrawesomesupercool]

The main problem China's population is facing is the high cost of living for everyone as a whole, not just women. Its very expensive to raise even a single child, let alone two. Valerie's comments about women not being represented enough in politics or facing domestic abuse might be a factor to low birth rates but not a major reason. If more women's rights raises growth rates, European countries should be facing a baby boom. In fact, there are several studies that state women's education rate is inversely proportional to growth rate.

I'm not trying to be misogynistic here, in fact I'm all about women's rights. But when you're on TV for the whole world to watch, you should at least get your facts right. Otherwise, you either look ignorant/misinformed or end up looking like you're trying to push a certain agenda/narrative.

[InFamouKiller]

1 child minimum policy will soon come into effect

[jerou]

If we look at the case of South Korea, Taiwan, Japan and Singapore-- four countries that are aging, their population start to fall when their economy already matured. That means, they got old when they got rich. The challenge China is facing is that it is aging before becoming rich (China is the second largest economy but check the per capita GDP). If China cannot reverse this issue, it will suffer from the Middle Income Trap. Young population is important because they are the drivers of growth. They boost the demand and production. They buy houses, cars, you name it. Young population are behind consumption. We need to point this out. There are actually some simpletons in this comment section thinking that "less population is better". It is generally the case but not on this one.

One may also see the correlation of aging with optimism. Aging societies are less optimistic (we have several literature written about this), and if China wants to be a military superpower it needs more young people.

[hadinapokalix]

Germany wants to talk about Chinese low birth rate, ,,, did you take a look at yourselves

[Bicloptic]

Expert: women in China are not economically secure

Also expert: you can’t just throw money at the situation

[egegeggegeeg]

Chinese average age is around 38, meanwhile germanys average is 45...

[johnkoh]

Japan, Korea, Singapore, China and many european countries are facing low fertility problem.
This can't be easily reverted when it becomes a social trend. The only consolation this trend helps to reduce global warming.

[Joebius]

They only allowed one child per family for a long time, did they not see that would leave a shortage of younger people?

[Bbenkosky]

Only a problem for the rich... makes labor more expensive. Good for the laborer

[hardheadjarhead]

She’s taking a feminist stance, which is fine and certainly valid as her points are well taken…but she ignored urbanization and the inability of couples to afford children. This is a global problem.

[Anders]

An idea came to me that China is betting on automation to replace many jobs because of low birthrate and aging population. I think automation soon will become huge because of the exponential progress of information technology that Ray Kurzweil has shown.

[Lnny]

They just need to become less racist and let people from africa migrate when the Time has come

[aaronjoseph]

We shouldn't encourage unchecked population growth, we only have one home and it's getting hostile to human life. Raise higher quality individuals, quality well educated and motivated people will always outproduce hordes of mediocre people. I worry about good family lives for young kids.

[rayking]

The cost of living was too high back then and two kids would have been ideal.

[Jesuslopez-tddl]

This is a thread to most developed nations, not just China