The declining birth rate in China threatens the country’s development, states the New York Times. The People’s Bank of China urges citizens to give birth to spite the United States.
According to the data of the State Statistical Office of the People’s Republic of China, over the past decades, the lowest birth rates have been recorded – 0.53% per year. At the end of last year, the population of China was 1.411 billion, and the number of newborns for the year did not exceed 12 million. This is convincing evidence that the country is overtaken by a demographic crisis.
Currently, about a fifth of the population of the PRC is citizens aged 60+. Over the past 10 years, this figure has increased by 6%, writes the New York Times, which can seriously undermine the economic growth of the state. Over the past year, the number of the able-bodied population aged 16-59 has decreased by 890 thousand people.
In April of this year, the Central Bank of China appealed to the citizens of the country with an appeal to give birth in spite of the United States – it is necessary to abandon birth control, since against the background of an aging population, the risk of lagging behind the United States increases significantly. If this recommendation is ignored, by 2050 the country’s population will decrease by 32 million, while in the United States this figure will increase by 50 million.
In this case, China will hopelessly lose its economic advantage. Due to the lack of able-bodied citizens, the country will lag behind not only the United States, but also other Western countries, the Central Bank argues.
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