The party’s almost over
China’s Demographic Dividend
Despite their tremendous economic growth over the past century and beyond, China will not become the world’s new superpower due to self-inflicted wounds. Of course, this is not to say the United States will be much better off, but all the excitement around China’s future is very short-sighted.
Their historic economic growth has come at a steep cost: Infertility. It is common knowledge that China enforced a “one-child policy” for roughly three decades. As a result, the country has not grown much since its 2015 abolishment. Six years have passed, but the fertility rate has only increased by 0.03 in that span, a measly 1.8% growth.
Gender Disbalance
Because Chinese couples were only allowed one child, the majority vastly preferred a male for their earnings potential at the time. As a result, between 2020 and 2060, there will be three single men for every two single women, allowing the latter sex to be as picky as they please. So what cultural and economic issues will arise in a country with 30 million men without the hope of marriage and starting a family?
China has a few options to deal with this impending crisis. Of course, they could always ignore the problem and pretend there will be no consequences, but this has proven disastrous in…
