Yeah, China's currently sitting at 1.3 children born per woman -- just like Italy or Spain, which are often cited as the EU "crisis" numbers.
This number is even worse than it appears though, since there are so many more men than women to begin with, thanks to the history of sex-selective abortion in the country. 12 million Chinese women were never born because their parents wanted a son instead of a daughter, and that's an extra 1.3 x 12 = 16 million children that will be missing from the next generation.
China's population is actually predicted to start shrinking in about 5 years.
> China's population is actually predicted to start shrinking in about 5 years.
A little overall population contraction isn't necessarily dire. The concerning thing is a decreasing fraction of the population being working age.
Ultimately, the most dire predictions have China's population halving over the next lifetime, and a sustained, big drop in youth. That's a pretty damning trend.
This number is even worse than it appears though, since there are so many more men than women to begin with, thanks to the history of sex-selective abortion in the country. 12 million Chinese women were never born because their parents wanted a son instead of a daughter, and that's an extra 1.3 x 12 = 16 million children that will be missing from the next generation.
China's population is actually predicted to start shrinking in about 5 years.